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CHARLES THE TWELFTH 
KING OF SWEDEN 





CHARLES THE TWELFTH 
KING OF SWEDEN 


• TRANSLATED FROM THE MANUSCRIPT 
OF CARL GUSTAFSON KLINGSPOR 


By JOHN A. (JADE 


With Illustrations 



BOSTON AND NEW YORK 
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 
fitoctpi&e prCambritige 
1916 



J ib'l'SZ 

.£3 


COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY JOHN A. GADE 
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 


Published October iqib 


» « » 


I 





* 


OCT 30 1316 


©Cl. A 44616 3 

*'V. 




TO 

H. W. S. 

AN AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 
MODEST AND GENEROUS 


PREFACE 


Two centuries ago when the kingdoms of Northern 
Europe were struggling for supremacy on the Baltic and 
control of the narrow portal to the sea, there appeared 
a young prince, the marvel of his age, who made him¬ 
self the arbiter of these kingdoms and of their rulers. 
The military successes of Charles the Twelfth of Sweden 
even forced obsequious consultation from the greater 
nations beyond the fields of his conquest. 

To-day when mightier forces are contending on the 
same battlefields and the same cities are lost and won, 
this old chronicle may perhaps claim a special interest. 

It may also appeal to those students of history who 
have at some time come under the spell of the young 
conqueror, who have felt the inspiration of a character 
built on a few strong, ideal lines, the sterner ones soft¬ 
ened by an unsurpassed power of tender human at¬ 
tachments. 

The quaint Swedish of Colonel Klingspor seemed to 
call for something similar as I told his story in English. 
In my attempt at such a rendering, as well as in the 
softer coloring of the tale, I owe much to Professor 
Robert P. Utter of Amherst College, who has had wide 
experience with the English of the period. 

I am also much indebted to Mr. Thorsten Laurin of 
the firm of P. A. Norstedt & Sons for the loan of their 
plates for illustrations; to Professor Palmer of Yale 
vii 


PREFACE 


University and to the Harvard Library for the readiness 
with which they placed valuable books at my disposal; 
to Miss Hanna Astrup Larsen, and to Mr. R. T. Nichol. 
My mother knows Colonel Klingspor as well as I do. 

John Allyne Gade 


September , jgi6 


CONTENTS 


I. Sweden under Charles the Eleventh i 

II. The Young Prince.16 

.III. The Call to the Throne.37 

IV. The Young King.50 

V. The Storm Breaks. 69 

VI. Narva and the Saxon Campaigns .84 

VII. The Opening of the Polish Campaigns ... 97 

VIII. The Advance against Augustus.117 

IX. Cracow and Thorn .144 

X. Lemberg and Warsaw.163 

XI. Checkmate for Augustus.173 

XII. Invasion of Saxony.182 

XIII. Altranstadt.188 

XIV. The March towards Moskowa.221 

XV. Poltava .243 

XVI. Bender.273 

XVII. The Fight at Bender.288 

XVIII. The Kalabalik .309 

Bibliography .355 

Index .361 

















ILLUSTRATIONS 


Charles XII, Portrait and Autograph Photogravure Frontispiece 




View of Stockholm in 1693. 

From Suecia antiqua et hodierna, by Erik Dahlberg 


8 ^ 


Ulrica Eleanora the Elder, Mother of Charles XII . 

From the painting by Ovens in Gripsholm Palace „ 

The Cradle of Charles XII. 

Go-Cart in which Charles XII learned to Walk 

Charles XII and his Sisters (1696). 

From the painting by Ehrenstrahl in Gripsholm Palace 

View of Stockholm in 1700. 

From a painting by an unknown artist 

Europe at the Time of the Battle of Narva 

From the map by K. von Spruner and C. A. Bretschneider, 
published by Justus Perthes, Gotha 


12 


18 


18 


56 


76 

/ 

84 

/ 


Medal with Portrait of Charles XII, struck during his 
Youth. 


94 'S 


Medal with Portrait of Charles XII, struck after his 
Death. 


94 




The Saturn Dollar of Copper with Silver Facing, coined 

IN 1718 AND INTENDED AS LEGAL TENDER FOR SILVER 

Medal struck after the Victory of Narva . 

Charles XII... 

From the painting by Von Krafft in Gripsholm Palace 


Charles XII. 

From an engraving by Fritzsch made in 1743 after a portrait 
by Engberg 


xi 


94 v' 
94 V 


98 ■ 


138 


✓ 


» V 









ILLUSTRATIONS 


Charles XII and Augustus the Strong supping together 

in Altranstadt, December 7, 1706.206 

From a contemporary engraving 

The Battle of Poltava.250 

From a contemporary French engraving 

The Swedish Ambassador Funck received in Audience by 

the Grand Vizier.302 

From a contemporary German engraving 

The Body of Charles XII being carried across the Nor¬ 
wegian Mountains.352 

From the painting by Gustaf Cederstrom in the National 
Gallery, Stockholm 





INTRODUCTORY NOTE 


The author of this chronicle, Carl Gustafson Kling- 
spor, was born in Stockholm in 1665, and lived until 
his seventy-eighth year, or to 1742. Like his father 
before him, he entered the household of the King as a 
mere lad, serving in his early teens as page to Charles 
XI, and as an officer as soon as he was old enough to 
wield a sword and sit a horse decently. From his 
several travels in the retinue of Swedish ambassadors, 
his wide-awake and impressionable mind gained an 
early development and a wider vision of men and 
affairs than usually fell to the lot of young noblemen 
educated at the Scandinavian courts of his day. His 
sensitive temperament, and sunny, responsive nature as 
well as his gallant, dashing qualities had won him the 
confidence and affectionate friendship of several of the 
great soldiers and statesmen who, with the beginning of 
the reign of Charles the Twelfth, were shortly to pass 
from the stage. 

The boy King, who had known in constant and 
friendly intimacy the young soldier of his father’s court, 
naturally turned to him when entering upon his wars, 
and Klingspor rose through the years 1700-1709, from 
a lieutenant to a colonel, serving as a member of that 
most famous and glorious corps of Drabants. He took 
part in the landing in Denmark, and in the battles of 
Narva and the Diina. During the last cavalry charges 
at the latter, he was badly wounded in the thigh; but, 
xiii 


INTRODUCTORY NOTE 


refusing to stay behind the army, was carried along 
with it, from time to time falling off the horse he still 
believed himself strong enough to sit. At last, at Alt- 
ranstadt, the surgeons, by good fortune rather than by 
skill, effected the slight operation necessary to make 
the bones knit, and the brave Colonel fought and suf¬ 
fered through the terrible campaigns of 1708-9, follow¬ 
ing like a faithful dog the litter of his master throughout 
the disaster of Poltava and across the desert to Bender, 
and finally back to Stralsund. 

From the letters and documents which have been 
found, it is difficult to judge exactly what part he played 
in the fortunes of King Charles during the last years of 
the long stay in Turkey, or in the Norwegian campaigns; 
but it is positive that he took part in the siege of Fred- 
rikshal, and also, that he later, though still in favor, 
and encouraged to return, held aloof from the court 
of Ulrica Eleanora and her consort, Frederick I. In¬ 
stead, the scarred and storm-tossed Colonel returned to 
the impoverished and much curtailed country estate 
that he had inherited from his father, and that his good 
wife had saved from the general wreckage. 

Even in his old age, the soldier seemed to have kept 
the sanity of his views and clearly to recognize the 
causes of his country's misfortunes in opposition to 
the idolatry with which he regarded the memory of 
his great leader. Speaking freely and fearlessly of all 
that had led to Sweden’s ruin, as well as of the only 
possible remedy, he finally became an unwelcome guest 
in Stockholm, despite the glorious record of almost half 
a century of faithful service. 


xiv 


INTRODUCTORY NOTE 


And so, with an almost unequaled collection of letters 
and memoirs at his disposal as well as a remarkable 
memory of all he had seen, the Colonel sat down in his 
last days and rewrote or interleaved the earlier pages 
of the diary he had always faithfully kept. Taken as 
a whole, it certainly forms, one of the most veracious 
if not most interesting accounts of the life and times of 
King Charles the Twelfth. From the point of view of 
modesty, it is also remarkable, the writer having prac¬ 
tically effaced himself in his eagerness not to lose for 
posterity any fact however small, or incident however 
trivial, which had to do with his hero. 





CHARLES THE TWELFTH 
KING OF SWEDEN 

CHAPTER I 

SWEDEN UNDER CHARLES THE ELEVENTH 

I farans stund i stridens brand, 
hvad mod hos denna skara! 

Hurkunde arma fosterland, 
du dock s& alskadt vara, 

En k&rlek fa, S& sk5n si stark, 
af dem du nirt med brod af bark. 1 

I was a soldier of Charles the Twelfth. To have 
fought under him was to love him. And now in my old 
age, scarred and broken in health, I would gather to¬ 
gether all I have of him in memory, in letters, and in my 
diary of the old days, and so write of my King that my 
children and their children might know and love him, 
and mayhap also cherish Sweden the more, and dream 
the better of the greatness that was hers. I know well 
that my brother-in-arms, the General Adlerfelt, has writ¬ 
ten fully of our King, and also the Doctor of Theology, 
and Pastor Joran Nordberg has written full truthfully 

1 In danger’s hour, in battle strife 
What valor gave this band new life! 

How couldst thou, poorest fatherland, 

Receive a love so great, so grand, 

Such love from those whom thou hadst fed 
So meagrely with bark for bread! 

Joh. Ludwig Runeberg. 


I 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

and at length of our deathless leader. Still, there is 
much that now leads me to grasp my quill. I feel I know 
him better than all others. Did I not serve his father be¬ 
fore him? And did I not look into his face that awful 
moonlight night below the cliffs of Fredriksten? It is 
easy for me to confess that so great a theme deserves a 
great writer, and that there doubtless are many others 
who, with clearer knowledge in military matters as well 
as those of State, could more fittingly relate both one 
thing and another and tell it with more taste and fancy. 
The great heart of his blessed Majesty the King, his 
doughty actions, his even temper and nobility alike in 
good and ill fortune, not only astonished the whole 
world, but won the veneration of friends and enemies 
alike. Yes, so much so, that Germans, Frenchmen, Eng¬ 
lishmen, Dutchmen, and even foul and villainous Mus¬ 
covites, have been more than eager to impart to the 
public as much knowledge as they could glean in regard 
to His Majesty’s life. It would seem that a mere sense of 
propriety must show the unbecomingness of leaving the 
great King’s name without the proper honor and com¬ 
mendation in Sweden and in his mother tongue. And 
therefore I shall busy myself not only to tell the whole 
exact truth, but also to purge His Majesty’s memory 
of every malevolent and belittling vilification which 
thoughtless or ignorant foreigners have sought to cast 
upon it. I trust he will forgive me if I at times perforce 
see Sweden’s poverty and misery wrought by the neces¬ 
sity of his housekeeping. Would to God his glory and 
her good fortune might have gone hand in hand! As I 
turn to my diary I rejoice that it so often was my cus- 


2 


CHARLES’S HERITAGE 


tom, as it was that of many of my companions, to write 
down what the King had said during the day, where we 
were camping, or how we had fought. How constantly 
have I not seen Gyllenkrook and Klinckowstrom and 
Bjelke and Creutz thus occupied before they lay down 
to sleep! I am happy in that I copied so many of his 
letters, and that I own numerous papers of His Excel¬ 
lency the Highest Marshal and Prime Minister Count 
Piper, the Field Marshal Count Rehnskold, as well as 
the Secretary of State Hermelin. They will be of great 
use to me to refresh my memory for my labor of love. 
No less valued are those of the chief interpreter Amira 
purchased from Constantinople, telling of much I knew 
not, that passed between King Charles and the Turkish 
Court. These are translated from Latin to Turkish or 
from Turkish to Latin with small marginal notes in the 
Italian tongue, all illuminating those strange days. So 
I have much that will assist me. God grant that what 
I write may spread the everlasting glory and honor of 
my late beloved Master, Charles the Twelfth, King of 
Sweden. 

Now, before I come to the very heart of my work, my 
hero himself, I would show how wide-stretched the land 
he governed, how illustrious were his ancestors, and how 
noble his inheritance from parents and warriors; I would 
also cast a glance upon the Kingdoms of Europe as they 
were in my youthful days when they were the world 
into which the royal babe was born. 

The history of Sweden has been the history of her 
Kings since Gustavus the First, of the Vasa line, laid 
strong and deep the foundations of our nation’s life. 

3 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


With the fall of the greedy German merchants that be¬ 
lieved their fleets should command all the harbors and 
seas of the earth, Sweden could look beyond her Scan¬ 
dinavian quarrels. After the Hansa were surely crushed, 
we dared once more sail across the Baltic and by little 
and little advance inland from the shores — Charles 
the Ninth paved the way for the glorious preserver of 
our Protestant faith. How often has the spirit stirred 
within me as I have stood before his Chapel under the 
vaults of the Riddarholm’s Church and read: — 

In angustiis intravit: 

Pietatem amavit: 

Hostes prostravit: 

Regnum dilatavit: 

Suecos exaltavit: 

Oppressos liberavit: 

Moriens triumphavit. 1 

When Gustavus Adolphus ascended the throne in 
1611, his kingdom consisted in reality of but a portion 
of Sweden as well as Finland. The richest southern 
provinces, Halland, Scania, and Blekinge all belonged 
to the Danish King. But see what new lands were the 
heritage of Christina after they brought his body home 
from that sad but glorious field of Liitzen, and the hon¬ 
orable peace of Westphalia had ended that war of thirty 
long years! She was Queen of Sweden by glorious de¬ 
scent, of Esthonia and Livonia, Carelia and Ingria by 

1 He entered [upon his work] amid difficulties: 

He loved piety: 

He laid low the public enemy: 

He enlarged the borders of his kingdom: 

He made his Swedes great: 

He freed the oppressed: 

And even in death he was victorious. 

4 


GERMANY’S DILEMMA 

the humbling of Muscovy and Poland, of the Island of 
Rligen and Usedom, the wealthy City of Stettin, the 
Isle of Wollin and rich portions of Pomerania by the 
defeat of Brandenburg, of Wismar taken from Mecklen¬ 
burg, and of Bremen and Werden from the Empire. As 
ruler of these broad stretches of German lands she took 
her seat and gave her vote as a Princess of the Empire 
whenever grave matters disturbed the council halls of 
the Diet at Regensburg. Charles the Tenth, who fol¬ 
lowed her, again struck terror in the heart of Poland, 
wrested from Denmark the southern provinces of the 
Peninsula and rich Baltic Isles, and did not pause until 
he had made the Baltic almost a Swedish sea under the 
blue and yellow cross floating from the battlements of its 
shores. Such were the broad lands that became the pat¬ 
rimony of Charles the Eleventh, such the links for him 
to weld together into a mighty Swedish chain, — and he 
did so gloriously, — leaving but one tongue, one law, 
and one rule. 

The German Emperor, who had perforce bitten deep 
into the sour apple when he was forced to affix his im¬ 
perial eagle to the Peace of Westphalia, was now no bet¬ 
ter off, distracted as he was between western foes and the 
innumerable hordes of Turks and Tartars seething in 
unrest at his southeastern gates. His Empire, with its 
endless quarrelsome dogs of small and large breeds, was 
ever a battleground. Woe unto the Prince who is down, 
for his enemies fall upon him as do the hounds upon the 
wounded game. The much-involved political disputes 
in German lands went even beyond the comprehension 
of our own astute Bengt Oxenstjerna. Every grave mat- 

5 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


ter of State, whether it pertained to Spain or Sweden, 
England or Hungaria, must there be brought up and 
settled anew. 

The Empire was the great market of mercenary troops 
and an open field for every fight. He who would prevail 
in Europe must swear the loudest, march the hardest, 
and shoot the truest within the borders of the Holy 
Roman Empire, and the Protestant likes neither the sly 
venom of the Hapsburg nor the honey of the Jesuit. 
Sweden was responsible for part of it all as one of the 
Estates of the Realm. And thereto, since the Elector of 
Brandenburg had abandoned the only and true faith for 
Calvinism and the Elector of Saxony had foully turned 
Papist, the King of Sweden was as of old, in Gustavus 
Adolphus’s days, looked up to and revered as the first 
lord and protector of the Lutheran faith. 

Would that the Swedish statesmen had seen the dan¬ 
ger in all this! Blind to their nearest interests, like the 
German Emperors of old faring south to Italy, the 
Scandinavian kings wasted their strength on the south¬ 
ern plains of Germany when they should have conspired 
to make a strong union between the northern kingdoms. 

The power of Brandenburg was rapidly growing. 
Wisely had she thrown in her fortunes with the victori¬ 
ous armies of Charles the Tenth, and received East 
Prussia in reward. Soon, under his great-grandson, 
was she to covet the royal crown. England was mistress 
of the seas and need no longer fear the white sails of her 
Dutch rivals. 

She had become the first sea power in Europe, and her 
new monarch, William the Third, was weighty in the 
6 


SAXONY AND RUSSIA 

European councils, only second to him they called “le 
roi soleil.” Now that the House of Orange, glorious in 
its annals, ruled on both sides of the Channel, England 
and the Dutch traders could plot and fight, as well as 
buy and sell, as one nation. 

The great Polish-Lithuanian republic of nobles was 
misruled to an ideal extent, while France stood alone 
proud and politic. 

The Electorate of Saxony, the only stronghold of 
German Protestantism, was not only one of the stoutest, 
best populated, and most unified States of Germany, 
but also most highly developed in material as well as 
intellectual matters. Augustus the Strong, so soon to 
fix the attention of all Swedish eyes, was the reigning 
monarch, and through the abandonment of his faith, 
the pawning of his lands, and the coining of false money, 
he was able to purchase votes sufficient to defeat every 
other pretender to the royal throne of Poland. 

Too long did we waste our contempt and our jests 
upon the Muscovite barbarians, and liken their Tsar to 
the ferocious rulers of China and Abyssinia of whom 
travelers into those far regions had brought us strange 
accounts. The boors sent as Ministers from the Court 
of Moskowa, we could not feast at our tables, nor enter¬ 
tain in our halls, nor use for aught else but to encourage 
their master, like the mighty Shah of Persia, to wage 
war against the infidel. Despite the slyness of the Tsar, 
we took not seriously his political scheming; nor did 
any power, but Sweden, find it worth its while to waste 
a couple of months in sending the Ambassadors in re¬ 
turn to the Muscovite Court. 

7 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

Two momentous questions attracted the attention of 
all Europe. Charles the Second, the last Hapsburg 
King, was soon to die, leaving unoccupied the Spanish 
throne. The Spanish provinces must as a consequence 
either be divided or given to a French or Austrian prince. 
Charles had bequeathed the whole of the possessions of 
the Spanish monarchy to Philip of Anjou, the second 
grandson of Louis the Fourteenth. The Turkish wars 
must soon come to a close and the conquered provinces 
be divided amicably or by quarrel. Weighty interests 
were at stake and thunder-clouds were gathering in the 
East and West. 

Charles the Eleventh reigned in Sweden. He was a 
great King, patient and inclined to quiet rule. Many a 
time did he impress upon me the need of our country for 
peace, peace at any cost except honor. He was a pains¬ 
taking master-builder, though the blocks given over to 
him by his ancestors fitted ill together. “His eyes were 
privily set against the rich.” His hand was hard and 
heavy, and loud were the murmurs of the nobles, but 
the course he followed was necessary for Sweden’s 
weal. He surely saved her from the fate of France and 
the selfish rule of the landowners, nobles grown rich after 
the Thirty Years’ War through constant gifts of prop¬ 
erty from the Crown. One by one he made them dis¬ 
gorge the enormous revenues accumulated through their 
great estates, however proud the family name. Well 
might they think it an earthquake. Money poured by 
lawful means into the royal coffers, and the peasants, 
tilling patiently the earth in the sweat of their brow, 
need no longer feel the terror of earlier persecutions and 
8 



HOLM IA 


SUB VRBIUM 




VIEW OF STOCKHOLM IN THE TIME OF CHARLES XII (1693) 

From “ Suecia antiqua et hodiernal by Erik Dahl berg 


































































































































































































■ 















• 





















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CHARLES XI, HIS THRIFT 

levies. And in how many other ways was he not most 
truly the father of his country? We who have fought in 
his and his son’s armies know well how wisely they were 
formed from our peculiar peoples drawn from different 
provinces and countries. What monarch before him 
has left forty-five men-of-war with twenty-six hundred 
cannon, or a naval fortress equipped like Karlskrona? 
His Ministers did well to become his faithful servants 
whom he could consult or not as he pleased, for none 
of them could have counseled him better how to leave 
coffers well filled. See the witches he destroyed, and the 
piety he instilled into all, rich or poor; whether hiding 
in smiling valley or thick forest the sorceresses were 
tracked by his diligence and burned by the dozens, sav¬ 
ing innumerable souls from the devil and the young 
from their pernicious example. Religion flourished once 
more. From the high tower of the three crowns in 
Stockholm holy music gladdened the people, and many 
a new church bell spread its joy over the countryside. 
I can still clearly see the day we celebrated the cen¬ 
tenary of Upsala, meeting with candles in all church 
windows, as at Christmas matins, and with music and 
songs of praise, as of an Ascension Day evening. Even 
the hearts of the Huguenots that had just come to us 
from far-off Rochelle leapt at the sound of the sacred 
tones. Verily no King could do more for his country than 
he did. To know the necessities of his subjects, I have 
often seen him walk through the streets and market¬ 
places without any one’s suspecting who it was until 
some swift act of justice was done. This he would order 
even to the punishing of his soldiers. Thus, one of them 

9 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


had been catching slyly after nightfall the dogs in the 
narrow streets by the palace walls to sell their meat for 
that of the roebuck. The King himself put the iron col¬ 
lar around his neck in the market-place and ordered that 
a dog’s head be hung upon his breast. There the rascal 
stood until his feet for fatigue gave way under him and 
he fell and choked to death. So swift and just in his 
judgment was Charles the Eleventh. But his justice 
was also tempered with mercy and true concern. In¬ 
stead of swiftly punishing the thief with death, he had 
his Councilors decree that he should be sent to a house of 
discipline where he was afforded work in proportion to 
the villainy of his theft and might wear a crown of iron 
on his head surrounded by bells proclaiming, wherever 
he went, his crime. Ungrateful, indeed, were the sup¬ 
plications that reached the King praying for hanging 
instead of such penance. 

His religion was a matter of grave moment to him in 
all his affairs. My first memory of him is a searching 
examination in it to which he subjected me the day I 
came to Court. I have since thought that I might have 
been admitted Doctor of Divinity by virtue of it, for 
indeed my father had drilled me well. He (I mean my 
father) had been all his life at the Court, as I have been 
since, and I cannot remember the time when I was not 
destined to that service. In preparation for it, from 
the time when I could first speak, my memory was 
constantly exercised in the catechism and all matters 
of religion. I cannot recall that any other preparation 
was considered necessary to it, though, of course, I 
was taught other things as all boys were, particularly 


io 


A GOD-FEARING ARMY 

such history and exercise of arms as were suitable to 
my age. 

I saw His Majesty more than once examine others 
who were entering his service, not only those who were 
to be about his person and about the Court, but even 
the common soldiers in his army. In inspecting a regi¬ 
ment, if his eye fell on a new recruit, he would as like as 
not command him to step forward out of the rank and 
put him through an examination in religion in the pres¬ 
ence of his comrades. Nor was this an idle form, for any 
conspicuous failure might mean the rejection of the 
recruit. Nor did he ever forget, if the test were well 
endured, to commend or reward the recruit according 
to his endeavors. And I think that it was this practice 
which made his army the God-fearing one which was 
the fear and scourge of his enemies. Nay, further, if it 
was he who saved Sweden from drifting without rudder 
or sail upon the troubled sea of European politics, I 
think it was this steadfast religion of his which was his 
guide through it all, but there was practical worldly care 
with it too. Of money he was ever heedful, not miserly 
for its own sake, but enough so that his coffers were suf¬ 
ficiently well filled to let him disregard both French gold 
and French advice, which last, at least, was abundantly 
offered him by Count d’Avaux. 

This was no small part of the strength that he left to 
Sweden when he was gathered to his fathers, for in fact, 
money was a sore need with us. More than that, he 
left the nation cleared of many of the sad misunder¬ 
standings with other nations which had so darkened 
her prospects. And when he left us, we stood a military 


II 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


power in the first rank, ready to meet our coming fate. 
This strength and position, I for one verily believe, he 
won for us by standing as absolute monarch in his 
realm. 

No more than the light shed by the sun is increased by 
a candle, can my poor quill add to the renown or the 
love borne his Queen Ulrica Eleanora, by Swedes and 
Danes alike. Her gentleness and charity will ever shine 
in the pages of Sweden’s history. To speak her name 
was to whisper a prayer, and the blessings of the people 
followed her wherever she went. Truly the great 
preacher in likening her to a lily of Eastertide hit upon a 
comparison that was ever afterwards cherished in the 
hearts of her subjects. Wherever she trod, flowers 
sprang up in her footsteps. What understanding or 
steadfastness could be compared to hers? What obedi¬ 
ence did she not show? Indeed she was as perfect a 
wife as queen. Having, when but a child, promised her 
hand to our gracious sovereign, never once did she allow 
herself to be dissuaded during the wars that raged be¬ 
tween Sweden and Denmark. True to her plighted 
troth, she was at last rewarded by the hand of our 
Charles and the crown of the Swedes, the Goths, and the 
Vends. Verily, as the Psalmist says, “The kings of 
armies became reconciled, and he that tarried at home 
divided the spoil.” Like the swallows returning in 
spring, the galleons of Niels Juel flew across Oresund 
bringing her here to nest among us. Almost every year 
she was brought to bed with a royal child, many of 
which, alas, were borne to the grave before her. Because 
she was being such an example of all Christian and royal 


12 



ULRICA ELEONORA THE ELDER, MOTHER OF CHARLES XII 
From the Painting by Ovens in Gripsholm Palace 













































































* • 











1 • 
















ULRICA THE QUEEN 

virtues, the King graciously permitted her to have the 
care of her children in much and many things, and he 
ordered her especially to implant in their hearts the 
piety and obedience she herself so admirably showed. 
Few times in her life did she give her royal spouse just 
cause to upbraid or reprove her. Only once do I remem¬ 
ber King Charles turning on her publicly his royal in¬ 
dignation. The cries for pity from starving people were 
rending the air of Stockholm, and the Queen Ulrica 
had given her silver and her jewels: yes, even her costly 
silks and damasks from out of her wedding chests. 
But when she had no more to give, her thoughtless 
womanly heart caused her to appeal to the King and 
to counsel him. I can still hear his stern reproof, “I 
took you unto me to bear children, not to offer advice”; 
and the good Queen took the just censure in humility 
and understanding. 

Her happiest hours were spent, without a doubt, 
when she, with her consort and little children, could 
go on a quiet excursion to some country seat or enjoy 
wild strawberries and milk in the park of the Hum- 
legard. 

Otherwise, all I can recollect and say of this excellent 
and gracious lady is that in Stockholm many a house of 
comfort for the miserable and destitute bears eloquent 
and silent testimony to her tender heart. Angels seemed 
through all her life, as at the death of some God-fearing 
persons, to be whispering and ministering to her. After 
my gracious Lady’s health began failing, she was wont to 
retire to the Castle of Carlsberg, where she would mourn 
over the babes she had seen carried to their early graves. 
13 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


There it was that red spots began to appear on her body, 
so that' in agony of soul she begged to be carried in her 
chair to the altar of the palace chapel in order to confess 
her sins and receive the blessed peace that comes with the 
administration of the Holy Communion. 

In the summer of the year 1693, her weary body 
finally succumbed, and though her dear heart was sore 
within her at the thought of leaving her little children, 
she seemed to those of us near her not unwilling to ex¬ 
change this earthly dress for the spotless raiment of 
Heaven. After thanking her royal spouse, who was not 
to be comforted, for his grace and favors, and embracing 
her children, she received the Holy Sacrament, and in 
the Castle of Carlsberg, in a blessed moment, breathed 
her last, thirty-six years, ten months, fifteen days, and 
fifteen minutes old, returning unto the hands of her 
Saviour the soul which He had purchased with His 
precious blood. Her dying request was that her crown 
and jewels might not be buried with her, but that she 
might be laid to rest with neither pomp nor ceremony 
and her money given to the poor. This King Charles, 
for his honor’s sake, could not well grant, but he wept 
at her funeral for four hours without ceasing and vowed 
he left in her tomb half his heart. In the city no black 
cloth could be found; the poor in their grief had pur¬ 
chased it all. This Queen of blessed memory left from 
her wedlock three children behind her, their royal high¬ 
nesses Prince Charles, Princess Hedvig Sophia, and the 
Princess Ulrica Eleanora. 

Before closing my description of this excellent royal 
couple, I would give the verse written by a poet and sent 
14 


A LAMP OF VIRTUE 


among friends until the children had learnt it by heart, 
and it reads: — 

Good-will among neighbors, a well-ordered house, 

Were his manly care. 

A lamp of all virtues his excellent spouse, 

A lady so rare, 

Among women well praised, 

She was pious and chaste, 

Kept her house without waste: 

And memory fain 
Will outlive these twain, 

While the world remain. 1 


1 Grannsamje, hemfrid och styr pa sit hus 
holl han som en kare 
Frun, som han fick, var ett dygdens ljus 
en froken sa rar; 

Sa from och Gudfruktig, 

Sa sedig och duktig 
Att af dette par 
Ar iminnelse kvar 
alia varldens dar. 



CHAPTER II 


THE YOUNG PRINCE 

The babe whose sword was to flash lightning under 
European skies was born at a quarter before eight in the 
morning of June the seventeenth, 1682, 5631 years after 
the creation of the world according to the opinion of the 
learned Doctor Scaligeri. That a glorious but bloody 
reign was prophesied was easy to read from the signs 
and portents on earth and in the sky. At the moment of 
birth the little fox was setting in the west, while in the 
eastern firmament rose the shining star of the little King 
or the Lionheart. The ladies-in-waiting wiped blood off 
the hands of the babe, while in the palace courtyard so 
furious a storm was raging that the copper and tiles 
were thrown from the roof to the cobble-stones of the 
courtyard. Stupid and dull indeed would he be who 
from these signs could not plainly recognize the coming 
of a glorious but bloody reign. The consequences of his 
birth did thus allow us, of the Court, to suppose that 
extraordinary influences affected the birth. After King 
Charles the Eleventh's death I copied certain portions of 
his diary for use in this my writing, and on this selfsame 
glorious day I find this entry: “To-day, Saturday morn¬ 
ing, my consort was delivered of and bore me a son. 
Eternal praise and glory be to God who hath helped 
her and may He likewise help her to her former health 
again for my Kingdom needs more heirs.” 

16 


BIRTHRIGHT REJOICINGS 

The day is one which I shall long remember, espe¬ 
cially the evening of it. That afternoon I had ridden 
through the streets that lie between the palace and the 
market, and though my mind was then filled with the 
event of the day, I saw nought to make me think that 
the citizens had as yet taken note of it: but at nightfall, 
when I came off duty, I walked out from the palace to 
observe the rejoicing of which the sounds had already 
begun to reach us within. Then I saw the daytime quiet 
changed into a veritable riot of joy. At that time I had 
not yet seen service in war and knew not, so well as I 
know now, what the sack of a city looks like, but my 
first thought as I looked down toward the market was 
that it was as if the city were being pillaged and burned 
by an enemy, for in every street opening out of the 
market-place, people were swarming, all laden as if with 
pillage or as escaping with their household goods. Many 
were carrying fuel for the great bonfire which was al¬ 
ready blazing in the center as high as the eaves of the 
houses. Others were rolling casks of red wine or white, 
which were speedily horsed and broached, and as speed¬ 
ily emptied with shouts, and singing and dancing. So 
was it in front of every church; and before the house 
of every noble stood a cask around each of which 
danced the crowd, circle within circle, till one was dizzy 
watching them, whether one had aught of the wine 
or not. 

By and large, it was a wholesome mirth, too, for I saw 
few that were drunk, and few unseemly acts, though 
here and there a little, which I will not set down now to 
the disparagement of our good burghers who are as 
17 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

upright as any. A few quaint sights I saw which it would 
be sport to tell of, but I will not. And it is written that 
there was not a village in the realm of Sweden in which 
the glad occasion was not celebrated, each in its degree 
after the same manner by all its inhabitants who cherish 
virtue and love God. Cannon and guns roared as if in 
war, and everywhere joy fetes were held and bonfires 
lighted. A new star had arisen in the north like the one 
seen over Bethlehem by the wise men of old. 

The gentle Queen, though then fast sinking in health, 
was allowed to superintend the education of Prince 
Charles until he could walk and talk, nay, longer, as I 
recall, until he began to lose his first teeth. And it was 
while he was still under her guidance that I saw him 
first — indeed, there were scarce more than two years 
of his whole life that I was not by his side during most 
of his waking hours, or at least within his call. It was 
not many months after his second birthday that I was 
commanded to court as a page, I being then just turned 
twelve years. How it came about that I was so sum¬ 
moned, being nothing to the purpose, I will omit relat¬ 
ing. Near as I had always lived to Stockholm, and in 
spite of my father’s long service with the old King, not 
to mention my mother’s rank and position, I had never 
seen the royal palace, or a royal person. I know not 
well what I expected to see, but I still remember my 
surprise to find the royal palace and household so like 
my father’s house. 

I was easily admitted, and without ceremony, to an 
anteroom where a comely enough young woman was 
sitting watching a child tumbling about on the floor. 
18 



THE CRADLE OF CHARLES XII 



GO-CART IN WHICH CHARLES XII LEARNED TO WALK 


























































I 1 1 ' 









































; 













































WHISTLING FOR ROYAL FAVOR 


She smiled at me as I entered, — I dare say I was well¬ 
looking for a stripling, — and I soon entered into con¬ 
verse with her. I think she soon learned all about me 
from my frankness, whereas I learned so little of her, 
beyond what I saw, that I know not to this day whether 
she was one of the maids-in-waiting, or a servant, but 
I do remember yet her wide blue eyes and smooth flaxen 
hair. 

After a time, as none came to conduct me to the 
Queen, she laid a sudden command on me to watch the 
child, and left the room. I had been far more accus¬ 
tomed to dogs than to babies, and knew not what to do, 
for the child looked after the maid, and then at me, and 
I clearly saw in its face signs of a gathering storm. 
Without thought of what I did, I began a little clear, 
high whistle through my teeth, which will always make 
a pup cock its ear and watch as if for a rat. The child 
looked up attentively with its head on one side, and 
then smiled. In another moment, by I know not what 
monkey’s trick, I had it laughing heartily, and so it was 
doing when the girl came back. “Faith,” says she, “you 
are like to prosper here if the young Prince marks you 
so for his favor.” And in truth, it was as she said. I was 
thus instantly in his good grace, the light of which was 
never turned from me. I know not how many times in 
the day, nay, and in the night too, if he were wakeful, 
he would call me by the baby name he then gave me, or 
come to me with his baby troubles. And many were his 
troubles, for he had from the first an eager spirit which 
would not be denied, and refused to be bound by the 
limits of his infant strength and stature. If he wanted 
19 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


aught beyond his reach, were it a star or a window-ledge, 
he would tug a stool or chair and climb to it, reaching 
seemingly impossible perils from which I had hourly to 
ward him. 

It was a patriarchal household, more like my father’s 
than like that of a king. This I knew not at the time, 
for I had seen or heard naught as a boy of the loose 
spendthrift magnificence of Versailles, the bloody orgies 
of Moskowa, or the harlot-scented drawing-rooms of 
Dresden. Promotion was not to be had save by honest 
merit. I say not this save in thankfulness, for I was al¬ 
ways a soldier and no courtier. Of the King’s practical 
piety I have already written; his frugality and industry 
were no less. By the dim candle-light of five by the 
clock of a winter morning he would gather his secre¬ 
taries about him for matutinal work, or would let saddle 
the horses to ride neck or naught to the mustering of some 
far-off regiment, we pages and guardsmen pelting after 
him, rolling in our saddles and half blind for the sleep 
which still veiled our eyes. Soldiers drill and water their 
horses in the courtyard, and pigeons wheel in the sun¬ 
light about the golden crowns and copper roofs of the 
palace towers. 

The Dowager Queen Hedvig sits combing the hair of 
her lap-dog or places her card-table close by the bed 
where Queen Ulrica lies confined. The old lady still 
held briskly to a mind of her own, though her King, 
Charles the Tenth, lay rotting in his chapel. I well re¬ 
member when the good Bishop Emporagius published 
his new catechism as a guide and light to the path of the 
young, wherein, in course of accompting the household 


20 


A TUTOR FOR THE PRINCE 


goods, he reckoned in all womenfolk including their 
Majesties the Queen and the Queen Dowager. When 
she came upon the passage she began to scream and 
chatter her rage to me, for none but the Prince and I 
were by. Next she sent me to summon this person and 
that, and to each in turn she read it with renewed scold¬ 
ing and wrath till I had heard it a round dozen of times, 
and could repeat it by rote to-day. It ended in her sum¬ 
moning the bishop from his snug study in the cathedral 
close, and berating him soundly while he knelt before 
her in gown and hood; but that I did not see. The 
catechism was publicly forbidden, I doubt not at her 
insistence, and that we thought then was to the ever¬ 
lasting shame of the bishop; but I wonder whether 
in the eternal heaven either one kneeleth now to the 
other. 

Amid all this did Charles learn his earliest lessons of 
life. In due course his fourth birthday was celebrated 
with raisins in the bread, goats' cheese, and small beer 
instead of milk; thereafter he was rejoiced by the selec¬ 
tion of a God-fearing and learned tutor. For this pur¬ 
pose he accompanied his grandmother to our great 
University town of Upsala, where doctors and professors 
would congregate. Three of these having been well 
examined as to their fitness, ranged themselves humbly 
and in full doctors’ robes in the hall of learning, wherein 
the boy then entered. To one of them, the professor of 
eloquence, he gave his hand, and thus did Andreas Nor- 
copensis become the most fortunate of Swedish teach¬ 
ers. He on mornings as well as afternoons patiently in¬ 
stilled the first principles of religion, of history, and of 


21 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

geography into the open mind of the Prince, who, when 
fatigued with these, would be regaled and distracted 
by moral and political reflections. 

He learned to speak the High German tongue of so 
many of his subjects, as well as Swedish, how to handle 
a horse, and how to hold a sword. It is no boast but 
sober truth for me to say I rode with him the first day 
that ever he bestrode a horse, and the last; and scarce 
a time between was he ever in the saddle that I was not 
in attendance. Soon he had learned to write sufficiently 
well to send a letter to his great-aunt, the old Queen 
Christina, long since turned heretic and leading a life 
of profligacy and guilt amid the Cardinals in Rome. 
She replied to him in the French tongue: — 

Mon cher Prince: Je vous remercie de l’obligeante lettre 
que vous m’avez escrite, et je suis ravie d’apprendre que vous 
promettez beaucoup de bonheur et de gloire k la Su6de par lea 
beaux talents que Dieu a mis en votre personne. Je souhaite 
qu’il vous conserve, qu’il vous fasse croitre en vertu, en sa- 
gesse, et en valeur, pour vous rendre toujours plus digne du 
trone oh vous etes destind, et que je puisse avoir un jour la 
joie de vous voir et de vous embrasser, pour vous assurer que 
je suis avec beaucoup de sinc4rit6 et de tendresse, mon cher 
neveu, votre bonne tante Christine Alexandre. 1 

Rome, le 30 Juin, 1588. 


Sundays were for the young Prince fete days and days 
of special religious edification, for in the afternoons, 
after he had listened to the two hours* sermon, he was 
permitted to write out its text and argument, which he 
then dutifully gave his mother when he came to kneel 

1 Daughter of Gustavus Adophus, and Queen of Sweden from 1644 
until she abdicated in 1654. 


22 


THE PRINCE’S STUDIES 

by her bed for his evening prayer. Nor were small re¬ 
wards wanting to stimulate him in virtue and ambition. 
He received pieces of money from the fond mother to dis¬ 
pose of as he pleased, but an accounting for which he 
must accurately make with Norcopensis, now ennobled 
under the name of Nordenhjelm. Or the lad was al¬ 
lowed to go in the sled, harnessed with six reindeer, and 
follow his father to drills at Jarfva or Ulriksdal. If he 
needed relaxation and had been good, I would be told to 
fetch grandfather Charles the Tenth’s diary and read 
it to him by the courtyard windows. 

Sweden had no Latin scholar comparable to Norden¬ 
hjelm. With sonorous voice and eloquent gesture would 
he repeat from memory verse after verse of the old mas¬ 
ters; and as he taught the growing lad, lose himself in 
Cornelius Nepos, Julius Caesar, or in Tully and Livy. 
The boy, quick to learn, would thus mark the great deeds 
of antiquity, notice the arts of war, his duty toward his 
fellowmen, and take heed of the course of Roman his¬ 
tory. I cannot call to mind the exact age at which he 
studied one and another of these authors, but I remem¬ 
ber many a time when in default of any other boy to 
play with him I must needs join in playing at Romulus 
and Remus, or Horatius at the bridge, or Caesar bridging 
the Rhine. For these last he would place a hurdle over 
the kennel of the palace court, and would storm at me 
for that I would not willingly fall in the water or mud 
when I was killed by his little sword. 

Or again the silver-tongued Nordberg would, through 
written drills in reasoning disputations, in which teacher 
and pupil would both take part, endeavor to unfold the 
23 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


mind. Many of these, for the great love I bore the 
Prince, I begged the good Nordberg to give me. And 
here is one from his sixth year:— 

Nordberg. Do you know, my Lord, how precious time is? 

Prince. I know it very well. 

N ordberg. Will you then tell me for what it may be used ? 

Prince. One may use time for everything that is fine and 
useful. 

Nordberg. Before one may do something fine, the thing 
must exist; can your Highness tell me what that means? 

Prince. I shall tell you. One must pray to God, one must 
know how to vanquish sorrow and sadness, listen to good 
counsel and salutary exhortations. 

Nordberg. Still more, if you can. 

Prince. One must be virtuous, mild, and pious. 

Nordberg. Your Highness surely knows still something. 

Prince. One must obey one’s parents and everybody who 
gives one good advice. 

Nordberg. Do you add nothing more? 

Prince. One must be as mild as a lamb, and have spirit 
and courage. 

Nordberg. Still more, if possible. 

Prince. One must appear to one’s enemies like a lion, but 
one must also at home be as gentle as a lamb. 

Nordberg. I expected in the beginning we should have 
but a single theme, but I find we have had several beautiful 
ones. Surpassing my expectations your Highness has gained 
your point and I concede the victory with all my heart. 

Studying the French language and dancing with a 
French ballet-master, and accompanying his father 
more often on his constant rides to reviews and drills, 
continued as the Prince reached his teens. By the time 
he came to his ninth year the King felt the necessity of 
laying down certain canons that should govern the lad’s 
instruction. These he and the Queen signed, and affixed 

24 


THE PRINCE’S SCHOOLING 

thereto the royal seal. Above all the King commanded 
that the Prince 

should recognize how the Roman religion and the power of 
the Pope had forever been abolished from Sweden; in what 
manner the Evangelical faith had been established, and the 
reason why the Kings of Sweden and the hereditary Princes 
are obliged to promise to defend and maintain it with the last 
drop of their blood. 

And further the King commanded that 

one should utilize the Commentaries of Caesar to furnish his 
Royal Highness with the model of a great and perfect cap¬ 
tain, and that one should thoroughly inculcate in the Prince 
the art of self government and how to put a check to his pas¬ 
sions. 

Great teachers and masters succeeded Nordenhjelm 
under the father’s watchful eye. Thomas Polus, a great 
diplomat of standing and experience; Baron Charles 
Stuart, teaching the lad the use of his strong body and 
the skillful thrust of the sword, as well as the art of for¬ 
tifications and the science of mathematics; Count Lind- 
skiold, the cheerful poet and scholar; and Baron Gustaf 
Cronhjelm. 

I have kept among my papers a couple of leaves from 
this time, written up- and down-hill in the crawling cap¬ 
itals of the lad. As I look at them the scenes of happy 
years so long since gone come back to my eyes in happy 
sequence, and I seem to read the spirit of the boy be¬ 
tween the lines. I copy them word for word. The 
Prince when he wrote them reached scarce to my breast¬ 
plate. And here they are: — 

When as we should leave for Carlsberg, then mamma sent 
out a marshal to ask my governor if it was healthful for me to 

25 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


go out for I had the snuffles. Then said the governor, "No.” 
Then said the marshal, “Why, one could ask the doctor.’* 
When the doctors now came up and spoke with the Queen, 
then said the governor to me: “The doctors say to the Queen 
that it is not healthful for you to go out.” Then I rushed in 
between them and neither the Queen nor the doctors under¬ 
stood what it might mean. Then I said: “You do not under¬ 
stand the doctor craft if you say I cannot go out.” Then all 
who stood there laughed. With this we started for Carlsberg, 
and the Queen did not travel the way she was wont to travel, 
for mamma did not like to go up the big stairs but drove 
through the garden. Later I looked at the stud and the Queen 
talked with the governor about the garden. In the mean¬ 
while I and my sisters ran around, and later we went home 
the same evening. 

Even before he was six years old the Prince was al¬ 
lowed to follow us on the ice, to strap his little skates on 
his feet and strut in front of the regiment, “The Prince’s 
Own,” all dressed in dark blue, which his royal father 
had presented him as a birthday gift, and which did duty 
in Gothenburgh. This he writ in his diary, though I 
have not the entry by me, but others I have to like effect, 
namely: — 

March the 2nd, 1692, Her Majesty my very dearest Lady 
Mother gave me a lovely book in which was a calendarium for 
the last year 1691. 

Ditto I received from Her Majesty, my very dearest Lady 
Mother, two red-colored crystal glasses, the one to drink out 
of, but the other fluted was filled with water of Hungaria. 

. -Ditto I received from Her Majesty, my very dearest Lady 
Mother, a knife inlaid with gold and a ring with a false ruby. 

Charles had scarcely been confirmed and attended his 
first communion in the year 1697, before calamity 
plunged Sweden in sorrow and mourning. I speak of the 

26 


THE KING’S VISION 


death of Charles the Eleventh, of the burning of Stock¬ 
holm Castle, and the frightful famine that overtook the 
country. 

Among other signal tokens of the Lord’s mercy shown 
to the great King, God permitted him, accompanied by 
the six first men of the realm, a vision a few days before 
his death. It must have been the Almighty God’s inten¬ 
tion that Charles should be informed of what should 
take place in Sweden long after his death, that he might 
bear in mind that God turned not aside and put off 
this calamity to the Kingdom on account of his fear of 
God. It is this vision that I mean to describe as it really 
took place and was written down by his blessed Majesty 
himself, before his death, signed and sworn to by all the 
witnesses, and sent to the archives for safe keeping. 

Thus I read: — 

I, Charles the Eleventh, this day King of Sweden, had on 
the night of the second of April, 1699, when I was more than 
ordinary seized by my melancholy torments, a vision which 
threw me into the greatest consternation. When I awakened 
at half-after eleven of the clock, I became aware of a light as 
it had been from candles in a window of the Council Hall. 
Thereupon I said to the Chancellor, Bjelke, who sat in with 
me: “What light is that in the Council Chamber? I believe 
something there is on fire.” 

He answered: “Your Majesty, it is the moonshine as it falls 
on the window.” 

With this I was content, and turned to the wall that I might 
enjoy some rest; but as I was full of fears beyond measure and 
could find no rest, I turned myself again toward the door and 
was anew aware of the light: Then again I said: “This can 
never be lawful business.” 

“Oh, yes,” answered the mighty and beloved Chancellor, 
Bjelke* “Your Majesty, it is naught else but the moon.” 

27 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


At the same moment there entered the Councillor Bjelke to 
inquire for my health. I then asked this honest man if he 
could discern whether there might be any dangerous fire in the 
Council Chamber. He paused awhile and then answered: 
“Praise be to God there is nothing; it is but the light of the 
moon which is the cause that there appe'areth to be lights in 
the Council Chamber.” 

I was again content, but casting my eyes thither once more, 
it seemed to me as if there were people there. Then I arose, 
put on my nightgown and went to the window and opened it; 
became aware that it was full of lighted candles; then I said: 
“ Good gentlemen, this is no lawful business. In confidence 
that he who feareth God need fear naught else, I will now go 
thither to search out what this can be.” 

I gave order to one of those present to go down to the guard 
that he should come up with the keys. When he had come, I 
went along with the others through a passageway above my 
room. When we were there, I ordered the guard to open the 
door, but of terror he begged that he might be spared. Then 
I asked Councillor Oxenstjerna, who never feared anything, 
to open the door. But he answered: “I have once sworn to 
give my blood and life for Your Majesty, but never to open 
this door.” 

Now I myself began to tremble, but summoning courage 
took over the keys and unlocked the door, after which I and 
my followers entered the room outside the Council Hall, where 
we became aware that it was everywhere covered with black, 
even to the floor. I trembled, which was not to be wondered 
at, and my followers were shaking even more. Then we went 
to the Council-Hall door to find out what was going on. 
Again I ordered the guard to open the door, but again he im¬ 
plored me to spare him. Again I ordered the others, but they 
too begged in mercy to be excused. Then I took the keys 
myself and opened the door; but when I had put one foot in¬ 
side I drew it back hastily in terror and hesitated a little, but 
then said: “Good gentlemen, if you will follow me, we shall 
see what is going on: Mayhap merciful God will reveal some¬ 
thing to us.” 

Trembling, they all answered: “Yes.” 


28 


A BLOODY TIME TO COME 


Then we went in. All of us were aware of a round table sur¬ 
rounded by reverend men, all with great books before them, 
and among them a king between sixteen and eighteen years 
old, with a crown on his head and sceptre in his hand. On his 
right sat a tall handsome man about forty years old. His 
countenance showed integrity. By his side sat an older man 
about sixty years old. Strange it was that when the young 
King shook his head several times, all these reverend men 
brought their hands down hard on their books. Taking my 
eyes away, I beheld around the table block after block, execu¬ 
tioner on executioner, all with their sleeves drawn up, and 
cutting off one head after another. God is my witness, I was 
frightened to distraction. I looked at my slippers to see if any 
blood had come upon them, but saw none. Those who were 
executed were mostly young men. Casting my eyes away into 
one corner, I saw a throne nearly overturned, and by the side 
of it a man who looked as if he might be a regent, about forty 
years old. 

I shook and trembled, drew over to the door, and said: 
“Where is the voice of the Lord I am to hear? O God, when 
shall these things be?” 

But no answer came; only the young King shaked his head 
and the other reverend men beat hard on their books. 

I called louder than before: “O God, shall this be in my 
time or when shall this betide? In thy mercy, Great God, tell 
me what is there to be done?” 

Then the young King answered me and said: “Not in thy 
time shall it come to pass, but in the sixth ruler’s after thee, 
and he shall be of such an age and bearing as am I. He who 
standeth here showeth that his regent shall resemble this one, 
and the throne shall in the protector’s later years be tottering 
to its fall, but the guardian who in the time of his regency did 
persecute the young King shall thereafter espouse his cause, 
and they shall so establish the strength of the throne that 
never before shall have been nor ever after shall be so great a 
King as this one, and all the Swedish people shall be happy in 
his time. He shall come to great length of years: his kingdom 
shall he leave free of debt, many millions in his treasury, but 
before he is secure on his throne there shall be so great an 


29 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


outpouring of blood that shall exceed all ever seen before in 
Svealand, or shall be in time to come.” 

When he had said this, all disappeared, and only we with 
our candles were left standing. We departed out, filled with 
unspeakable consternation, as every human being may con¬ 
ceive, into the black room where also all had been taken away 
and left in its former condition. We then went back to my 
room, where I seated myself to write this account. When I in¬ 
quired of those who were with me whether they had heard the 
answer to my question, all answered: “Yes.” I uttered to 
them: “Thank God you are not living in that time.” That 
this is true I swear a solemn oath: So help me God in life and 
death. 


Carl XI 

This day King in Sweden. 


As eye-witnesses we affirm with our solemn oath that in 
truth all took place as is above set forth. So help me God in 
life and death. 


M. Bjelke 
Carl Bjelke 
E. Brahe 

A. OXENSTJERNA 

Petter Gransten 


At the time of this vision, the King was in the prime 
of his life at the age of forty-two, and there are writers 
who say that the malady which brought on his death 
came on him suddenly after this time; yet I know well 
that this is not true, and I recall clearly the day on which 
I first knew him to feel it, which I know to be no less 
than ten months before the night of the vision, a day 
which I fix because I noted the occurrence in my diary. 

The King and a handful of us had ridden far to in¬ 
spect a herd of new horses for his cavalry, which were on 
their way to the city coming from the northwest, for I 

30 



THE ILLNESS OF THE KING 


remember we set out past Sta. Clara and off towards 
the Carlsberg and beyond. The King wished to see the 
horses before they were prepared for his inspection. As 
we returned we stopped for dinner at the muster-camp 
of a regiment of his infantry, and there we dined with 
the officers of the regiment on bean soup and black pud¬ 
ding, pease bread, honey, and beer. Returning, we rode 
hard, for the King wished to get back early, there being 
to be a meeting of the Council. We clattered into the 
courtyard of the palace and threw ourselves from our 
saddles before our horses had fairly halted. As his feet 
come to the ground the King claps his hand to the right 
side over his belt, and clings with his other hand to the 
saddle, so that the horse then moving to the stable-door 
would have thrown him to the ground, had I not sprung 
forward and caught him in my arms. He gave such a 
groan as no one had ever heard him give before under 
any pain, and his face was all white, and his lip clenched 
between his teeth. I thought he would have fainted but 
he gets to his feet again and will not hear any of our 
anxious questionings for his health. We dismissed it at 
the time, saying that he had ridden hard too soon after 
the dinner of the crude fare which he had had at the 
camp; but that was no more than all of us had done and 
were none the worse. There were other times, too, when 
he complained of the pain, but I have none of them writ 
down. My own thought is that this was but the begin¬ 
ning of the mortal disease with which he took to his bed 
a month or so after the vision which I have related. 

We were all about his bed during his illness, and what 
with the business of the realm which must come to him, 


31 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

be he ill or well, our grief for his state, and the officious¬ 
ness of priests and physicians in their anxiety for his 
bodily and spiritual health, he had scant peace of mind 
to offset his bodily illness. The hot stones which they 
placed upon his belly and the potions and drenches of 
herbs with which they dosed him were bad enough in all 
conscience, but when, it being Holy Week, the chaplain 
would preach daily there his sermon, I wonder that the 
King did not die earlier of all the good advice, the hard 
Latin, and classical quotations with which his bed¬ 
room were daily filled. 

And if he had been well, I think the suffering from the 
famine which he would have seen, had he so much as 
stepped outside his palace, would have worn down his 
spirit like a disease; for by this time food had failed 
throughout the country, and thousands who were starv¬ 
ing flocked into the city or as near to it as they could 
travel in search of food. Many fell by the sides of roads, 
but all who could stagger or creep came into the streets, 
where their plight was so pitiable that one would scarce 
dare to go abroad for the sight of them. We all did what 
we could to help them, but indeed we had little enough 
for ourselves even in the King’s palace, and must needs 
care for our own first. After all had been done that could 
be done, many lay in the streets unable to find either 
shelter or food. Neither did the cold winter sky have pity 
on them, and against the walls of the houses were the 
corpses of the poor wretches of whom one could not say 
whether they had died of cold or hunger; and day by 
day the watch would gather up the stiff bodies in the 
gray of the morning. 


32 


DEATH OF CHARLES XI 


Between his last spasms the King dwelt sadly with his 
physician-in-ordinary upon the state of his abdomen, 
praying the learned doctor, as he explained to him the 
intricacies of the internal walls and the windings of the 
intestines, that he would faithfully promise after his 
death, to open his body thoroughly and see what strange 
things were to be found in his bowels. At last the King 
comforted the physician-in-ordinary who was weeping 
as he stood helpless with all his knowledge. The court 
preacher raised his voice loud above the groans of his 
Royal Master and gave him some comforting words on 
the text, “Lord abide with us, for it is toward evening 
and the day is fast spent.’* Whereupon the King 
stretched out his hand to his beloved Master of the 
Horse, Gustaf Hard, and said: “Good-bye, Gustaf 
Hard; I thank you for every day we have spent to¬ 
gether may God let us meet in God’s Kingdom.” 

And then King Charles the Eleventh was gathered 
to his fathers. 

As if the famine and the death of the King were not 
enough, fortune brought us within a few weeks yet an¬ 
other spite. The King’s body still lay in state in the 
palace. I and a few others who were for the moment off 
duty sat in the guard-room about the table where we 
were arguing, as we so often did, I know not what ques¬ 
tion of military tactics, as to whether such and such a 
fortress could possibly be taken by storm or no. It was 
broad daylight, but of a sudden as I looked up, I, sitting 
with my back to the windows, saw the light on the wall 
before me a dusky red. It flashed foolishly into my mind 
that the sun was already setting, for the window was to 

33 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

the west, and that I should have been on guard these 
three hours. I sprang to my feet and turned toward the 
window, but even as I was in the act to speak, I heard 
the call of fire and one of my comrades exclaiming, “ God 
help us, the palace is on fire!” And indeed the flames 
were belching fiercely forth from nearly every window 
in the great Hall of Knights across the courtyard from 
the guard-room. 

We rushed to the door and turned out the guard, or¬ 
dering at the same time the alarum to be sounded by the 
rolling of the drums, and sent men to ring the great bell 
to stir out the citizens, though in truth there was little 
need, for most of them had seen the flames and were 
already coming to be of help in the courtyard. The cap¬ 
tain of the guard took command of the mob of servants, 
soldiers, courtiers and all, though it was little service he 
had from any save the soldiers, for none others were 
drilled to obey his commands. These he sent in squads 
on this duty and that; some to form lines of men to wells 
and cisterns and pass buckets of water that could be 
thrown on the fire, and to me he gave the duty of seeing 
that all who were in danger were brought safely out. 

In the chamber adjoining the Hall of Knights were 
the Queen Dowager and the princesses and many of 
their attendants, who were so astonished with their fear, 
for it seemed that the stairway was already too far gone 
in flames for them to descend, that when we came to 
them, they could do naught but run screaming like mad 
women from one window to another; nor would they 
heed us when we told them that if they came at once, 
they could pass the stairway in safety. There was no 

34 


THE FIRE IN THE PALACE 


time for parley or ceremony. Accordingly I picked up 
the Queen Dowager in my arms, but got no further with 
her than the door when I was obliged to call for help, 
for indeed she was no light weight and was nigh to 
strangling me with her arms about my neck, and deaf¬ 
ening me with screaming in my ear. Others of us did 
the same by the princesses and some of the other ladies, 
whereupon the rest followed easily enough, and we 
brought them safely out into the courtyard, though it 
was but just in time for I was told that a part of the 
stairway fell almost before the last were off it. 

By the time we came out, what with the noise of the 
alarum bells and the roaring of the drums and the clash 
of the falling beams, the senseless screaming of the ex¬ 
cited people, and the shouted cries of the workers, the 
courtyard was a good vision of pandemonium itself. No 
one did anything toward saving either the palace or the 
King's goods save the soldiers and officers, who worked 
fast and orderly. Even the councillors seemed to lose 
their wits with the rest, for I saw one of them in his 
furred gown coming from the kitchen, his arms full of 
stew-pots and fry pans, and another at the window of 
the hall above pitching out benches, chairs, and whatever 
he could lay his hand to, most of which either was shat¬ 
tered on the stones of the court, or shattered the skulls 
of those below. He had not wit enough to save his own 
neck either, but went down into the flames when the 
floor fell. 

But I had little time to observe all this, for my next 
duty was laid upon me by the Prince, who commanded 
me to see the body of his father borne to a place of safety 

35 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


from the hall where he lay. From the moment when he 
came out into the court, an orderly spirit fell upon the 
chaos, and more was done to save the palace in five min¬ 
utes then than had been done in half an hour before. We 
brought the body across to an unworthy resting-place in 
one of the stables; then, as we came out, the great bell 
and eight of the cannon from the battlements fell with 
a horrid crash through crumbling roofs and floors. 

Whereupon we saw that all was doomed, and turning 
back to the stable, took up the King's body once more 
and bore it to Oxenstjerna’s palace, to place it upon the 
great table where the King had so often held his councils 
and where he had issued many decrees reducing the es¬ 
tates of his nobles. By the time we returned there was 
naught left of the stately palace but the ruins. We were 
but just in time to see fall the very heart of it, the proud 
tower of the Three Crowns. From the fall thereof the 
people fled as from an evil omen. 


CHAPTER III 


THE CALL TO THE THRONE 

Again a child in years sat upon Sweden’s throne. 
Shortly before the death of Charles the Eleventh, I had 
at his orders written the following dictation which I was 
instructed to deliver to the regents-to-be, in order “that 
they who, during the minority of the Prince, would come 
to rule Sweden, should hold to those alliances which the 
King had contracted in the best interests of the country, 
and always seek the welfare of his native land; that the 
Prince should come to understand that God, who makes 
and unmakes kings, would some time demand a reckon¬ 
ing from such men as are born to crown and sceptre, as 
to whether they have misused the power lent them by 
the Highest to their own perdition and the oppression 
of their subjects.” 

By his will the King further left the government to 
the old Queen Dowager, realizing full well her lofty 
mind, good understanding and unalterable will, and to 
five Royal Councillors. While the King’s body still 
awaited burial, as the winter snows of November set in, 
through the trumpets of heralds and high upon the 
walls of Stockholm was the proclamation issued: “With¬ 
out excuse or delay there should present themselves 
Counts, Barons, Knights, Squires, and freeholders who 
have remained at home.” 

Thereupon came all bishops and overseers, with two 

37 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

decent men of the clergy from each consistory and one 
from each diocese and district; thereupon came all home- 
quartered colonels, or their lieutenant-colonels, with a 
captain from every regiment, who was free to come; then 
came also from each city a burgomaster, with a coun¬ 
cillor or an inoffensive burgher; and lastly an honest 
peace-abiding man of the peasantry from every county, 
all likewise attired each according to his station, means, 
and power, with fitting robes of mourning. They came 
each in his fitting garb: the highborn gentlemen wearing 
mourning clothes with trains dragging regardless of dust 
and dirt, the court-ladies in white mourning garments. 
The corpse was carried by the Councillors, on its State 
bed, to the Chapel, where it was laid in a precious coffin 
of pure heavy tin. When the lid was closed cannons 
were fired from all the market-places, and sorrowfully 
we all wended our way to the funeral meal, with its de¬ 
licious porridge of meal and blood washed down with 
beer and corn-brandy. 

Not long did the Councillors sit in their seats of 
power, but great glory and honor did they and Sweden 
have of their rule — and this despite their endless quar¬ 
rels and quibbles. In the great peace of Ryswick it was 
Swedish probity that bound the ties of concord and mu¬ 
tual understanding between the Emperor Leopold and 
his allies, Spain, England, and the United Provinces on 
one side, and King Louis on the other. No small honor 
I would say for our Mother Kingdom. 

Less easy to meet were the covetous eyes of Denmark 
and Russia, or the ever-troublous question of Holstein, 
to which I shall come anon. 

38 




CHARLES AS KING 

Now comes that most remarkable revolution in the 
state that exercised so tremendous an influence upon 
the destiny of Sweden and the unformed character 
of the Prince, that all to come was determined by it. A 
revolution indeed it was, little intended or dreamed 
of by Charles the Eleventh, and contrary in word and 
spirit to the laws of the country — I mean the declar¬ 
ing of age whereby the lad of fifteen became an all- 
commanding Sovereign King responsible for his actions 
to none on earth, but with power and authority as a 
Christian king to rule and govern his realm as it seemed 
best to him. 

So strong a sword thrust in so weak a hand! And 
that, too, through the selfishness of the nobles, who 
hoped by placing the lad on the throne once more to 
arrive at the power and wealth of which they had been 
deprived. 

None knew Charles, not even those who had watched 
his growth. Oft had he entered silently the Council Hall 
as the regents sat around the board, listened to their de¬ 
liberations, and, if questioned, had either answered not 
at all, or with astounding decision and self-confidence for 
one of his tender years, had given opinions at variance 
with those of his Councillors. In general his silence but 
marked his strength of will. Of certain qualities they who 
observed him were, however, already well aware. He 
knew not the meaning of bodily fear, whatever the danger 
or however great. Like that of his father, his unbending 
will gave way for nothing, but like the steep rocks of 
his mountains shattered all that beat against it. This 
in truth was to him a source of great power as well as 
39 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

danger. A passion for justice he also felt, and its admin¬ 
istration without compromise. A certain domineering, if 
not insolent, haughtiness already marked the manner in 
which he received the opinions of his elders if conflict¬ 
ing with his own, and he remained obstinate to every 
entreaty of experienced reason. 

Like the whelp of the greyhound, the stripling was 
clean of tooth and limb, muscular, gaunt, and lanky, 
unacquainted with bodily comforts or ease. The vices of 
his royal peers, Louis, Augustus, and Peter, were never 
to be his. The vanity of pomp and splendor, the blan¬ 
dishments of women, the allurements of drink, and the 
pleasures of delicate food, were all indifferent to him. 
The religious cant of our time, with its curious and vari¬ 
ous manifestations in the different Protestant lands and 
their dependencies, was in the boy practical Christian¬ 
ity, as needful to success in life as the very breath he 
drew. In the thin well-marked nose, the wiry hair flow¬ 
ing back from the high clear forehead, the firm-set jaw 
and flashing sapphire eyes, there was a calm resolution 
and unbending determination that brooked no resist¬ 
ance. His was an eager, forward face like the prow of a 
ship, and the short hair in locks like pointed flames. If 
ever man was born a king, it was this last scion of the 
line. He could but command, and others were to obey. 
Small wonder none found it too hard to die following 
that brave captain, for we would ever be behind, and 
Charles, man or boy, the foremost in the fight. 

And here would I mention, though I shall oft return 
to the theme, the idolatry with which he was worshiped 
by the armies he afterwards led. Few mortals have been 


40 


HIS GIFT OF LEADERSHIP 


blessed with that divine gift of leadership which was to 
be his, or have had the sorcery which springs from such 
a mixture of different personal qualities, and which in¬ 
spires in followers a love and devotion drowning all 
meaner faculties. Even when they were bloody, spent, 
and gashed, home and friends, pain and fear, were all for¬ 
gotten by them in their campaigns. Dying as the game 
was at bay, they turned their glazing eyes to him, happy 
and triumphant in a last look from the Master who had 
called them on. Though they were destitute and starv¬ 
ing, too weak to stand, again and again their swords 
leaped from their scabbards and they sprang to new 
effort at the magic of his call. 

My children and grandchildren, it was Sweden's 
greatest son, hallow him in your memories! As long as 
Sweden breeds such men in his image, She shall not per¬ 
ish but have the glories of everlasting life. Vanity in 
dress or manners he knew not, but that of spirit knew in 
him no bounds. And his regents had further marked 
how he had inherited from his father a love for long 
hard rides and for early and continuous work, coupled 
with a love and understanding of art inherited from 
his mother and grandmother. He no more doubted 
his divine right than did he the pity as well as wrath 
of the everlasting God. 

Had not parents and tutors and regents so early 
left his side it might all have been different in Sweden; 
the future of his great qualities and strong will might 
have been led in different channels. Yet ’twas but a 
child in years longing to reach man’s estate. 

Yes, I have known several noble young women of his 
4i 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


youthful age bring forth well-formed shapely children, 
but man’s mind and character do not ripen or develop 
so soon, nor does he so early produce such mental 
fruit. 

With this remarkable year of 1698 Swede-land stood 
at the parting of the ways — a new era was dawning. 
Great events were happening and Sweden’s position was 
indeed fortunate. It was a year of many alliances; pow¬ 
ers far mightier than Sweden, strangely enough, pay¬ 
ing her their court. The Emperor, England, France, 
Holland, Denmark, and Brandenburg all sent their am¬ 
bassadors to sign favorable treaties. The eyes of Eu¬ 
rope were directed with admiration, but still more with 
jealousy, toward our little Sweden; we must choose our 
career, either with the maritime powers, clung to so 
tenaciously by the wise Oxenstjerna, or with France, as 
had been advocated by the great number of the regents. 

It is now so changed I scarce would know it — the 
pleasures of all, both at the Court and among the people, 
were simple and of a practical turn. A wedding or a 
christening, a church service, a review or a sleighing 
party, a public recantation of Jews or Papists caught in 
their religious idolatrous practices — these were the 
eventful occurrences of our everyday life. The life in 
the King’s capital was one of small burgher interests, of 
quiet and decency and orderliness — the rare fetes being 
hailed as the great and only events breaking the tedium 
and humdrum of everyday existence. When the long- 
anticipated royal birthday arrived, some Saint’s day, 
or church festival, or jubilee, there appeared rich and 
poor, young and old; all left their trades and booths and 


42 


DWELLINGS OF STOCKHOLM 


several callings and flocked to the great squares and 
thoroughfares to be children once more. Thousands of 
caps were thrown high in the air, the clapping of hands 
and loud huzzas were to be heard far down the bay and 
along the shores of the islands and inlets. High up to the 
skies burst the rockets, falling down in crimson light. 
They crackled with the joy of the yule-logs, and sput¬ 
tered and gleamed as the celestial fires of fairyland. 
Amid it all, above the processions of gorgeously robed 
nobles and caparisoned horses, shone the illuminated 
C’s of the King and crowns of Sweden. 

But splendid garb and equipment of the nobles no 
longer contrasted so strongly with the poverty of the 
humble folks in the streets of Stockholm, for the “re¬ 
duction” had closed many an ancient noble house, and 
many a stately palace stood neglected and deserted. If 
Stockholm as well as “The King’s Copenhagen” could 
have imitated the capital of Louis XIV, they would have 
liked it well, but that was out of the question. Still 
there were palaces which could measure themselves 
with those of Paris in splendor, as well as in the depth of 
the mire in the lanes and alleyways surrounding them, 
where the night-watch was sorely tried in making brawl¬ 
ers seek their homes and sleep. In the city itself were 
fine rows of stone houses, four, even five, stories high, 
but all around them, up and down the streets to the 
water, clustered the little unpainted wooden houses 
with their thatched roofs. 

The great squares made the foreigner exclaim, full of 
wonder and admiration, for here the roofs were of copper 
and iron and tiles, and here stood the fine churches and 
43 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

palaces that had arisen before and during the days of 
my youth. There was the house of the Nobles, whose 
great hall was hung around with their shields; the pal¬ 
ace of the Wrangels, where the royal family took refuge 
after the horrible fire; and the palace of Gustavus Adol¬ 
phus’s great soldier, Lennart Torstenson. In the old 
palace of Axel Lilje, by Normalms Square, “Batting- 
Baner” had just finished his irregular life and orgies; 
facing it stood Jacob de la Gardie’s palace, “ Matchless,” 
where his son the great chancellor had lived in such ele¬ 
gance that crowds in the streets had to be driven by the 
pikes of the guardsmen from staring through the iron 
fencing of the courtyard. What luscious pears and ap¬ 
ples were to be found in the royal garden behind it! And 
then there were the houses of Gustaf Bonde and the 
Konigsmarck and the Oxenstjernas; and many another, 
built around the three sides of a court with lovely formal 
French gardens — palaces and gardens copied from the 
refined taste of foreign lands. Above it all the old pal¬ 
ace was, under Tessin’s magic touch, beginning to re¬ 
cover from its frightful nightmare. 

It was in November and December, 1698, that the 
Riksdag was to meet for important action, and we were 
to crown Charles King and Lord. The ever-selfish and 
calculating nobles, trusting to the lad’s indifference and 
inexperience in weighty matters of state, as well as to 
his gratitude to them for their action, decided to over¬ 
throw the State and Constitution, and, whatever clergy, 
burghers, and peasants might say, declare Charles of age 
and crown him Sweden’s King. There was to be a sad 
awakening, and a cast from the frying-pan into the fire. 

44 


A CHAT IN A TAP-ROOM 


I know full well that this was in Charles’s mind before 
the event, let them say what they will to the contrary. 
For it was even while the men of the Riksdag were be¬ 
ginning to come into Stockholm for the convocation 
that I was riding on a day with the Prince — I call not 
to mind at this writing whether it was for hunting or 
aught else. We had ridden hard and were chilled with 
the cold of the winter day, and for that we stopped at a 
wayside tavern far from the city. We were alone together 
and had naught in our dress to distinguish us, so that 
in the tap-room of the tavern we were not known for 
what we were. And as we sat there with our drink be¬ 
fore us that we had called for to warm us from our ride, 
our talk fell on this and that, and at last on the convo¬ 
cation that was about to be. 

The Prince asked me if I had heard aught of its pur¬ 
pose. 

“Aye,” said I, “I have heard it, as who has not, that 
they mean to set aside the law of the land and the will 
of your father and to make you king.” 

“And what say they,” says he, “as to their pur¬ 
pose?” 

“Why,” says I, “ that is plain enough too. There are 
none in the streets who know it not as well as I, and I 
doubt not Your Majesty knows no less.” 

“Well,” says he, “come then, and what is it?” 

“No less,” says I, “than this, that Your Majesty 
being yet a child, there are those in high places in the 
state who would rule our land as they will behind Your 
Majesty’s back.” 

I spoke thus plainly enough with him, as I had ever 

45 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

spoken since his earliest childhood, and never did he 
take things from me otherwise than as they were meant. 

4 ‘And what think you,” says he, '‘of their plans?” 

“Nay,” says I, “I believe they think it a good one; 
but one thing they reckon not on.” 

“And what,” says he, “might that be?” 

“Why,” says I, “I think they know not Your Ma¬ 
jesty so well as I know you.” 

“You mean,” says he, “that if you were in my place, 
you would thwart their plan by refusing to accept the 
crown?” 

“No,” says I, “you know me better. If I were in 
Your Majesty’s place—” And there I stopped. 

“Why,” says he, “fear not, go on. If thou wert 
prince, what wouldst thou do should they offer thee the 
crown?” 

“If I were prince,” says I, “and they offered me the 
crown, I should take it, and I should see that no man 
stood behind the throne to be a power there.” 

“I believe you would,” says he, “with all my heart.” 

And with that the talk shifted to other things, and 
what he said then I have told no man, nor whispered or 
written any hint of it until this moment. And it may be 
that some will think, who read these words, that I gave 
him ill counsel, even as his mother or his nurse-maid 
might have thought, had they seen me when I allowed 
him to walk the high window-ledge in the palace on the 
day of which I have told. And I write this here, not as 
boasting that I shaped the King’s policy or advised him 
to that which he did, for I have faith that all was shaped 
in his mind before he hinted aught of it to me. But I will 
46 


THE OFFER OF THE CROWN 


boast, if boast it be, that I knew then more of what was 
in his mind than those who declared later that they knew 
it all. 

Stockholm swarmed with the men of the Riksdag, 
assembled from all parts of the kingdom, not only for 
its convocation, but also to bury the poor King whose 
corpse prior to being laid to rest had made such strange 
and violent peregrinations. 

The nobles, who met first and alone, soon agreed that 
the young King had already reached so apparent and 
beautiful a growth, and had been blessed moreover by 
Almighty God with such gifts of the mind and spirit, 
as made it to the advantage of the State for him to as¬ 
sume its government. To this the Councillors and the 
regents said Amen! These latter highest dignitaries, 
supported by the Queen Dowager, — every one of them 
expecting to pull his own chestnuts from the fire, — 
thereupon with solemn dignity and concern, filed into 
the King’s cabinet, in order to lay this great matter be¬ 
fore him before referring it to the estates for vote. 

Bengt Oxenstjerna, now for many years Sweden’s 
foremost statesman, fell upon his knees and as spokes¬ 
man urged that no greater good fortune could befall 
Sweden than that the King should declare his willingness 
to ascend the throne in authority as well as in name. 
To this the King agreed, whereupon the nobles called 
the other estates to their hall. 

The clergy who, in faith, were better fitted to busy 
themselves with their translation of the Bible, demurred 
and questioned. The burghers and peasants were scarcely 
listened to. The Marshal Gripenhjelm extolled the great 

47 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


virtues of the Prince, urging that at the opening of the 
Riksdag they had all observed how like he was unto an 
angel, so that all hearts were moved and all must there¬ 
fore now desire to see him as soon as possible the ruling 
lord on the throne of his ancestors. 

The King’s tutor, Gustav Ehrenhjelm, who had the 
audacity to insist that he was the only person present 
who really knew him intimately, desired more careful 
consideration in the matter. “If you say another word, 
I shall throw you out of the window,” spoke bravely 
Axel Lewenhaupt. “ Vivat Carolus Rex l 11 cried the no¬ 
bles: “ Vivat Carolus /” cried the others. Up in the air 
went hats, out flashed swords, and the hall rang with the 
happy shouts. But there were those wiseacres who 
shook their heads gravely afterwards and said the whole 
proceeding more befitted a Polish election than the pro¬ 
ceedings of a country where the forms of law and order 
were supposed to be observed. 

Nevertheless, now was no time to hang back. This 
was the hour for action. Each taking his place in the 
procession as determined for him here on earth by the 
Most High, the estates marched to the King. The Mar¬ 
shal of the Realm then spoke as follows: — 

Your Majesty, the realm has never fared better than when 
ruled by sovereigns and kings by right of inheritance. Then 
God has greatly blessed both King and country. For this 
reason and as we plainly see, Your Majesty, gifted and blessed, 
mild, just and ripe in years, filled with all royal virtues and 
understanding and ready to take over alone the government 
of your inherited kingdom, therefore we cannot contain our 
longing to see Your Majesty take upon your shoulders the 
heavy burden of a ruler. We therefore present our prayer to 

48 


CHARLES ACCEPTS 


this effect and humbly promise you our fealty, obedience, 
service, and duty, and promise that in your cause we shall 
never be sparing of life or property or blood, but will for all 
times subject ourselves to your gracious rule and will. 

The royal lad was standing, as was his wont, according 
to the courteous French fashion, with his three-cornered 
hat under his left arm, and the right hand firmly gripping 
the handle of his very long sword. His face lit up as he 
took the marshal’s hand in his and replied that, though 
it were a great burden, he would because of the prayers 
of the estates take upon him the government in the 
name of Jesus Christ. 

Then the old King was buried and the meeting of the 
estates concluded. A new page was to be turned in the 
history of Sweden — and a page destined to be its 
bloodiest as well as its most glorious. 


CHAPTER IV 

THE YOUNG KING 

Charles had hardly mounted the throne when his 
iron will began to make itself felt. Instead of making 
concessions to the nobles, heavier exactions were im¬ 
posed upon them. To keep them well in place, he ele¬ 
vated Carl Piper to the nobility and placed him beside 
him as his chief counsellor and guide. In the hours of 
trial as well as of triumph, were master and servant to 
stand side by side. Though sorely tried, often well-nigh 
to distraction and despair, Piper never failed in that 
highest duty of a subject. Though of burgher descent 
and equipped with faculties scarce above mediocrity, he 
still possessed a keen insight into human nature, and a 
craving and power for work almost matching that of 
His Majesty. He was ever accurately informed of the 
smallest details of affairs. Not until the battlefield of 
Poltava were they to part, nor Piper to cease his endless 
work and endeavors on behalf of his country until, old 
and broken, he sent his last loving messages from behind 
the walls of his Russian prison. 

Two days before the ceremony, the heralds announced 
to the sound of trumpets and timbals the time and the 
place where the estates must again assemble to take the 
oath of allegiance. The wind from the Baltic wound 
the snow in ice-cold blankets around them as they, on 
50 


KING BY DIVINE RIGHT 


the 13th of December, on the Riddarholm Island, knelt 
and swore fidelity. 

I have said that it was plain to me what was in 
Charles’s mind even before the crown was offered him. 
It was before the coronation, or rather perhaps at the 
time of it, that the nobles who had offered him the crown 
might well have seen it as clearly as I, not only from the 
omens that befell in the ceremony of the coronation it¬ 
self, but in the very acts of the Prince. On the day 
before the coronation the storm broke in the palace and 
spread like a whirlwind through the whole city. Charles 
refused to be crowned; he declared that he was King 
by the right of God, and if he were so, what right had 
even the Archbishop to place the crown on his head? 
Anointed would he be, even as were the kings of the 
Bible. Like them he would be one of the Lord’s anointed, 
but not one crowned by the hand of man. The Coun¬ 
cillors and the Queen Dowager were in despair. In fact, 
the Queen Dowager forgot herself completely, even unto 
cursing, and swearing that if the boy would not be 
crowned as had been all kings before him, wild horses 
should not drag her within the portals of the church. 
But for this Charles remained unmoved. “The lack 
of Your Majesty’s presence might be unpleasant to 
us,” said he, “but for your sake we cannot change our 
mind.” 

And so the great day arrived and the procession 
started through densely crowded streets for the church 
of St. Nicholas. Charles rode a splendid chestnut horse 
shod with solid silver. We, who for the day were the 
guard of his body, officers chosen from the army and the 
51 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


household, rode immediately behind him in column of 
fours. I was on the left of the front rank, my stirrup often 
touching the halberds of the soldiers who kept the way 
open for us through the crowd. On my right rode a cap¬ 
tain of dragoons, whose name now I cannot call to mind, 
but it was he who fell fighting gallantly in the centre at 
Poltava. He leaned forward to me and whispered with 
a wink, “And a little child shall lead us,” meaning, of 
course, that he should lead only as he was directed 
from behind the throne. 

“Aye,” said I, “but know ye so well how and where 
he will lead you?” 

Others were not so sure, for though outwardly signs 
of joy were not lacking, still in all faces was more of ap¬ 
prehension. Something of great and sinister impor¬ 
tance was toward, and not the joyful pealing of the 
church bells could dispel the anxious foreboding. 

The senators and nobles, who had been since eight of 
the clock that morn waiting in the great crowd before 
the palace, were dressed all in black and without their 
capes. Around the church and the cemetery were posted 
three battalions of foot-guards from whom to the pal¬ 
ace soldiers in double file, with halberds, kept open way 
for the procession. In the square of the Riddarholm were 
the city train-bands drawn up, on prancing horses, but 
whether prancing for joy or because little used to mili¬ 
tary discipline I would not say. As we passed, small 
coins were scattered to the populace; the ministers re¬ 
ceived larger ones of silver and gold. The King rode 
with his sceptre in his left hand and the reins of his 
charger in his right. 


52 


SINISTER OMENS 


Now I for one hold little by omens, for I think that the 
good God, when He wishes to show us his will, can do so 
better than by the silly tokens to which many thought¬ 
less people attach such weight; and I think that at this 
time the future was plain to read without such help by 
any who had eyes in his head. None the less on this day 
things befell which might have made it clear to any, 
howsoever blind he may have been to the nature of the 
King and what was in his mind. 

The King came from the palace, not with the scarlet 
mantle lined with carmine, but all in black save for his 
purple cape. When mounting his charger, he, perforce, 
threw back his head. To the horror of all who saw, and 
many there were, the crown slipped and fell to the 
ground. To that omen none were blind; many were 
moved even to sobs and tears; but for the most part 
these were stifled and the silence was like that of the 
grave. In the procession to the church the Councillors, 
who of old were honored, were not even mounted, but 
went on foot, humbly carrying the canopy over the 
King. And this was not an oversight of the marshal or 
a subordinate, but the King's will and his order. 

At the entrance of the church the bishop received him 
with the glad words, “ Blessed is he who cometh in the 
name of the Lord ”; but within was no gladness. Against 
the sombre black walls shone the red damask hangings 
of the choir, the red velvet of the boxes and the galleries, 
and the huge crimson cloths, which indeed extended to 
the pavement around the churchyard. Solemn silence 
there was through it all, but most oppressive when 
Charles refused to take the oath sworn by Swedish 

53 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


kings since time immemorial. Then indeed did the no¬ 
ble assembly, so many of whom had played for power of 
their own with the boy King on the throne, look stiffly 
and grimly into space, for neither by law nor by prom¬ 
ise of his was Sweden’s King to be bound. But even 
more than this, there befell what was to many, espe¬ 
cially those of the clergy, the most fearful omen of all. 
As we were leaving the church, the horn containing the 
sacred oil slipped from the hands of the bishop even as 
the crown had fallen on the paving stone. 

Such was the crowning of Charles the Twelfth, and 
such were the omens thereof. But when the solemn cere¬ 
mony was over, the omens, too, seemed readily forgotten. 
The people along the streets fought and scrambled mer¬ 
rily for the coins we scattered among them; and in 
feasting and drinking showed even more freedom and 
license with the kegs of beer and wine, and the oxen of 
the anointment, than I had seen in the rejoicings at the 
time of his birth. The lucky peasants, those who had 
come representing the estates, were given for partition 
the cloths that had been spread over the pavement, 
sadly cut and trampled to be sure by the hoofs of the 
horses against the cobble-stones along the way of the 
procession. The nobles and other fortunate ones ate at 
the royal feast in the palace. 

There followed, alas! but two short years, in which 
King Charles might enjoy his youth, and his country 
the calm of peace. Not that this period was not filled 
for him with grave concern and anxious care, and many 
a wise and thoughtful provision for his country; but 
youth had to frolic and riot, as is its wont. 

54 


DISAPPOINTED ASPIRANTS 


Europe had for some time been much concerned to 
provide proper alliances for both Charles and his elder 
sister. During the awful winter, so severe I still can re¬ 
call it like some long nightmare, sapping the strength 
from the waking hours to come; during this winter, one 
anxious mother followed upon another, and successive 
ambassadors whispered flattering words and eager solici¬ 
tations intended to reach the royal ears. First of all to 
arrive, at Yuletide, through the deep snowdrifts, was 
the widowed Duchess of Holstein; her royal sled with its 
sixteen horses had to be abandoned on the roadside and 
exchanged for the light honest harness of a peasant. 
With her came the expectant daughter, Mary Elizabeth. 
She was a sorry wench and four years older than the 
King. He slighted her by giving no New Year’s present, 
laughed at her fat lips and slobbering mouth, and re¬ 
plied to his despairing grandmother that “The lady 
smelt full foul and looked but little better.” In this the 
people heartily agreed, for the name of Holstein pleased 
them not. 

Scarce a week later came poor Juel from Denmark, 
ploughing his way less successfully through the same 
storm. But he had so often upset in the snow that the 
rheumatic pains sent him to bed instead of to court. To 
look over the wares Juel had to offer, Klinckowstrom, 
the favorite page, had been sent to Denmark, sooth to say, 
not by the indifferent Charles, but by other interested 
parties. Back he came with a portrait of a princess of 
such rare beauty that she would have lighted the flame 
of passion in a marble statue. But not so with the 
King. Medical powders and exciting potions were even 

55 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

administered him by the physician-in-ordinary, but all 
in vain. 

And so came also the poor old Duchess of Bevern, and 
the widowed Duchess of Mecklenburg-Gabow, with 
her daughter, later more fortunate with the first King 
of Prussia; and an offer from the courts of Brandenburg 
and Wiirtemberg. When the last one arrived, in Febru¬ 
ary, the boy, who loathed the whole idea, asked the 
tardy princess if she could not see that there were more 
than enough to choose from without her? 

Would there had been as happy a choice, or lack of 
choice, with the Princess Hedvig Sophia, and Sweden 
had thus kept out of the fatal embroilment she was 
about to enter, and from the cause she was, alas! to 
champion. But this was not to be. The young Duke 
Fredrik of Holstein having found favor in her eyes, and 
the choice, after lengthy discussion and wrangling, at 
last having been approved by the regents, during the 
minority of Charles, the betrothal was publicly an¬ 
nounced, the duke was received by the entire popula¬ 
tion of Stockholm and all the cannons fired, and the 
wedding solemnized at the palace of Carlsberg; after 
which Charles not only escorted the newly married 
couple to the coast, but with his men-of-war, far out to 
sea, as they spread their white sails towards the ill- 
starred coasts of Schleswig-Holstein. 

It was a turning point in Europe's history, this wed¬ 
ding of which I speak, that of Fredrik, of Holstein, to 
our Princess, Charles's elder sister, Hedvig Sophia. 
And I should have said that it was solemnized by the 
archbishop at Carlsberg, at the palace, early in the sum- 
56 



CHARLES XII AND HIS SISTERS (1696) 

From the Painting by Ehrenstrahl in Gripsholm Palace 



















































































































































APPARENT HEEDLESSNESS 

mer of 1698. It was a time of deep anxiety to me, not 
only that I, together with all who took thought for it, 
were sore in mind over the entanglement of our power 
with the dangerous policies of the Duchy, but for that 
Charles himself seemed to take no thought for it. Nei¬ 
ther I, nor anyone else to the best knowledge I have, 
could win one word from him as to the effect of this 
marriage on our realm. Instead he concerned himself 
with Adam Cark who should discourse on his viol the 
sweetest of music at the door of the royal couple’s bridal 
chamber. And once, when I sought to know his mind on 
matters politic, he darted away to give orders that each 
page should receive a plate of sweets from the royal 
board after the wedding feast. And I must confess here 
that I know not to this day whether he knew the import 
of it all or not. From the wild gaiety of his demeanor, 
of which I shall write in due course, I might well think 
he heeded nothing. I cannot think that he foresaw noth¬ 
ing, for I do not believe his nature was changed. 

The die had been cast. The discussion had been long 
and angry among the regents then ruling Sweden. In 
the future the Princess must, come what might, espouse 
the cause of the Duchy, thus entering the most danger¬ 
ous of battlegrounds. The questions which were to fol¬ 
low were not merely to prove of local interest to those 
abutting the shores of the Baltic, but were in verity to 
prove a far-reaching upheaval in the system of Euro¬ 
pean government. Under the cloak of a guarantor of 
the Peace of Altona, but really guided by his personal 
sympathies, Charles had made the cause of the Duchy 
of Holstein that of Sweden. The King of Denmark, for 

57 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


his own protection and honor, sought Saxony and Rus¬ 
sia, listened to the honeyed words of Patkul, and curried 
favor with those German states whose interests were 
opposed to Sweden. And so the fire had been kindled in 
this quarter. 

It was near the end of the fifteenth century that the 
good Emperor, in his imperial town of Rothenberg, had 
invested King Christian of Denmark with the sover¬ 
eignty of the duchies. After that — and mark you how 
often discord hath issued from such cause — the trouble 
took rise from the partition of the heritage between the 
brothers, sons of the Queen. And so followed continu¬ 
ous struggles between the kings of Denmark and the 
dukes of Schleswig-Holstein, one claiming the suzer¬ 
ainty the other would not yield. Charles the Tenth of 
Sweden, marrying a Holstein princess, now the old 
Queen Dowager, not only filled the then reigning duke 
with the courage of a lion, but through the success of 
Sweden forced Denmark to renounce all pretensions. 
With the death of Charles the Tenth, Denmark again 
held the mastery, only to lose the coveted vassal by the 
Peace of Altona, under our King Charles XI, in the year 
1689. Finally, with the death of Charles XI, our Charles, 
but a boy, and the Councillors and people (all, in fact, 
but the old Dowager) indifferent to Holstein and fearful 
of the everlasting imbroglio, Denmark was allowed to 
cast covetous eyes southward. Alas for the marriage 
of Duke Fredrik with our Princess! for now we knew 
full well the chase was on again, and Sweden once 
more in the running; a participant in the unending 
fray and bitter fight. But the storm was not yet to 
58 


THE KING’S HORSEMANSHIP 


break, though couriers and dispatches from our for¬ 
eign ambassadors showed some of us plainly that the 
first black clouds were already scurrying across the 
horizon. 

You cannot keep the whelp from capers or the young 
cock from strutting, and even so our young King was to 
have a short time of boisterous living. Like unto his 
father, he wished nothing better than a good horse be¬ 
tween his legs. Even de la Motraye confessed that he 
had never seen so fine a horseman. These were rides, 
indeed. Cousin Klinckowstrom and I, who had mares 
and wind, followed him abreast upon the longest and 
wildest of them. By the first light of dawn, there was 
shouting and hallooing in the stables and the ring of 
horseshoes in the courtyard. Then away we went, neck 
or nothing, over the hurdles and deep ditches. 

I mind one such time when we clattered out in the 
gray dawn of a March morning with the wind fair blow¬ 
ing the sky about our ears. There was a young English 
baronet, — Sir George Somers, I think, or Sayward, or 
some such name, — and I, and four or five others be¬ 
sides the King. We went thundering across the Soder- 
strom Bridge, where Sir George lost his hat, a fine one 
with gold lace, which we left bobbing among the white 
caps of the Malaren. We turned westward along the 
waterside instead of making up the hill toward the 
windmills as we often did when we rode that way. So ere 
long we came to an end of our road, where the cliff 
comes straight down into the deep water; and there we 
drew rein, and drew breath too, and our horses were fair 
gasping. 


59 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


“So then,” says Sir George, “a fast ride and a merry 
one. But here we turn back or else make our choice be¬ 
tween the devil and the deep sea.” 

“A fair choice,” says the King; “I turn not back; 
which shall it be?” 

“Let Your Majesty make the first choice,” says Sir 
George with a low bow. 

“Let old Brand Klipparen choose for himself,” says 
the King. Wherewith he flung his rein on the horse’s 
neck and at the same instant struck his spurs into the 
poor brute’s flanks so deep and sudden that he sprang 
straight for the sheer rock before he knew. 

My heart was in my mouth, for I saw no issue but 
death for the King. The horse went up only so far as his 
spring took him, hung scrambling an instant, then fairly 
toppled backward and came down with a crash amid a 
slide of loose rock. The thing befell before any of us 
could get out of our saddles, or do aught to prevent it, or 
even see, for the cloud of dust, what had happened; but 
by some miracle, or some feat of dexterity, the King 
threw himself clear of the horse and remained un¬ 
scathed. Nor was aught injured but the saddle, which 
the King ordered stripped off and tossed into the water; 
and he rode without it. 

“Neither the devil nor the deep sea will have me,” 
says the King, “so I will e’en stay on this earth, and I 
think I have my work to do on it.” 

Now there were those who thought that the King 
was drunken with wine when he did such things as this, 
and others of which I may tell. But they who say so 
know not the man. What need had he of wine, whose 
60 


BEAR-HUNTING 


spirit was uplift with youth and power? How should the 
arrow turn back, when drawn to the head? For the 
nonce it flew at random, but ere long it was to find noble 
quarry. 

Nor scarce better was our frame of mind at the bear- 
hunts, where the young King would constantly press in 
front of his hunters, with naught but his wooden fork 
in his hand. The fetid breath of the ugly beast advanc¬ 
ing upon his hind legs would fairly strike the King’s nos¬ 
trils before he, with the strong muscles of his lithe body, 
would thrust forward the pitchfork on each side of the 
hairy neck. Backwards the beast would roll, and 
nimbly would the hunters bind his kicking legs. Then 
at eventide we would snip off the fat paws, and the 
King would send them for pickling to his favorite sister. 1 

Not always would it be but jest, for at times a good 
peasant, too slow in the turning, would have an arm or a 
leg torn off before the beast was beaten. If at times he 
were mild and tractable in his behavior, or young and 
anxious of learning, we would lead him home, tied and 
a-jumping or dragging on his fat buttocks after our 
horses, and his hind parts would be a clot of blood in¬ 
stead of hairy when we reached the castle. Then in the 

1 March 5th, 1700. 

Serenest Princess: 

Most honored and beloved Sister! 

I have nothing much to relate to my dear sister from here, except 
that we go bear-hunting, eat, drink, and sleep well, and make merry and 
forget at no meal to eat in our thoughts my Sister’s and the Queen’s health, 
since you are so gracious as to drink our health. 

The bear’s paws we are sending to Stockholm, if my Sister will be 
pleased to eat our health therein, at the same time as we drink her health 
here, until we again can wait upon her. 


6l 


Carolus. 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

evening by the fireside we would derive much amuse¬ 
ment from the beast over our cups. Even now I recall 
one brown fellow who in his unmannerly hunger had 
devoured the whole pastrycook’s pyramid upon the 
royal table. King Charles thereupon commanded young 
Kagg to fetch up a fresh can of Spanish wine from the 
cellar, to give the fellow something with which to wash 
the sweetmeat down. Through a funnel we poured it 
merrily, the beast gurgling contentment. Alas, he be¬ 
came so drunken that he fell in his reeling through the 
glazing of the window into the courtyard below, and, 
though the surgeons employed their best skill, the 
broken back could not be mended and the beast expired. 

At other times would we catch wolves and foxes, the 
King discarding the newer fire weapons so as not to ob¬ 
tain too unfair an advantage over the game; or we would 
set up gallows in which we hung living geese, heads 
downward and smeared with fat, so they were very 
troublesome to hold fast. Then we let peasants and 
swains gallop through the gallows and attempt in the 
hurry to grasp the goose and pull its head off. And a 
silver ducat was the reward of the winner. If it was a 
pretty wench, who had tucked up her red petticoats to 
bestride the horse, who was successful, she would re¬ 
ceive two ducats out of the King’s own royal hand. 

The best games of all were those of war — costing 
often a life or two, but surely as instructive as amusing 
to us of the Court. We threw bombs made of card¬ 
board instead of iron, and tore the clothes off each other, 
breaking knuckles and noses with an occasional arm or 
leg in storming snow bastions and fortresses. At times 
62 


•0 


A DANGEROUS GAME 

the King would also devise naval battles of a curious 
character. He would equip boats on the Malar Sea with 
the fire hose of the city, and the crew with hand pumps. 
With the use of these weapons the various crews would 
attempt to board and capture the vessels of their ad¬ 
versaries. Once upon such a time good Arvid Horn took 
off all but his shirt and rowed in a little yawl out to the 
King’s boat and began to squirt on its crew. They 
answered in so spirited a manner that the little yawl 
filled and capsized. Horn jumped overboard and be¬ 
gan to swim away. Charles, watching him, asked, “Is 
it difficult to swim?” “No,” says Horn, “if you are 
not afraid.” Hardly had Charles heard these words 
than he jumped, splash! into the lake. Despite all his 
courage, he would have drowned had not Horn grabbed 
him by the belt and dragged him rapidly ashore. Then 
swimming as fast as his strong arms would serve him, 
Horn struck out for a nearby island from which he 
protested against returning, crying out to the King he 
could not as he was a deserter to the camp of the enemy. 

Thus it may be seen that Charles was still full of boy¬ 
ish pranks, though some were of the dangers of man¬ 
hood. With youthful deviltry, he would spit out his 
cherry stones into the eyes of his page, or slyly blow 
them across the table into the face of poor old Count 
Johan Stenbock; or another time, as young Kagg was 
about to serve the roasted pigs’ feet, cleverly upset the 
dish before it was handed him. When the pages became 
more adroit from the lessons of the old dancing-master, 
Ducroi, they and the dwarfs would be commanded to 
dance while the King roared and beat time upon the 

63 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


table boards and washed his bread and butter and fried 
pork down with small beer. The court-chamberlain, 
Fequer, was at times sore tried. Once, when he was 
about to cut the kidneys from the roasted veal to serve 
the old Queen Dowager, who was clamoring for them, 
the cuff of his sleeve became caught in the steak. Upon 
the King’s order, Lieutenant Wrangel at once cut off 
both the greasy cuffs of the chamberlain. 

But the sallies of youth were not always innocent or 
harmless. The Duke of Holstein proved an evil brother, 
leading our King astray and egging him on to every 
mischief; some said with purpose, trusting that some 
day the game might go so; for our gallant King, always 
first in every reckless prank, might break his neck, and 
Sweden thus see a Holstein duke upon her throne. 

One day the duke showed the King a sword with 
which he swore he had beheaded a calf in a single stroke. 
This naturally roused the King’s envy. In the after¬ 
noon he had brought to the palace courtyard a flock of 
sheep, goats, and calves, in order that he and the 
duke might derive pleasure and practice in decapita¬ 
tion. The practice took place in the King’s own cham¬ 
ber, whereupon the heads were thrown down upon the 
good, albeit astonished, citizens as they passed below the 
palace walls. They objected, however, when the King 
and duke with their household officers, with nothing but 
their shirts on, came galloping through Stockholm’s 
streets, naked swords in their hands, shrieking and 
breaking all the window-panes which they could reach 
in passing; and the following day, being a Holy Sunday, 
they broke up the benches in the Palace Chapel, so that 
64 


AWAY FLY THE DUCATS 


the entire congregation were forced to stand through¬ 
out the lengthy service. 

Tales of what went on within the palace walls became 
the talk of the scandalized burghers, and many a thought¬ 
ful man shook his head as he thought of Sweden’s fu¬ 
ture. One had seen every glass swept off the table by 
the swords of the King and duke; another, all the chairs 
thrown out of the window; while a third had seen them 
on horseback sliding across the polished parquetry of 
the floor, shooting frightened hares set scurrying along 
the edges of the great Hall of Knights. To cap it all, 
King Charles made Duke Fredrik generalissimo over 
all the Swedish cavalry and infantry regiments. 

And now would I also tell of the Court, and say that, 
after Versailles, that of Sweden soon became the most 
magnificent court in all of Europe. Away flew the pre¬ 
cious ducats, with such rigor extracted from the nobles 
and scrupulously stored by Charles the Eleventh. 
Friendship, services, and poverty all received rich and 
constant donations. Bag upon bag of gold went to pay 
for the rebuilding of the palace, and the laying out of 
the gardens, as well as the magnificent fetes and enter¬ 
tainments, until the great coffers of the Elephant Tower 
were almost emptied. And the half million dollars of 
silver coin, and hoards of jewels laboriously gathered by 
Charles XI, had all been spent. 

A troupe of actors were brought from Paris after Tes¬ 
sin had received orders to bring to our court the best 
that could be procured in all Europe. Twice a week they 
played for us at court, and once, in their simpler cos¬ 
tumes, for the rabble in the ball-house. 

65 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


Greatly did I enjoy the fetes which were most ingen¬ 
iously devised by the skill and forethought of Tessin. 
The halls were hung with tapestries from the looms of 
the French Gobelins as well as from the rich city of 
Brussels in the Lowlands, and furthermore decorated 
with damask, gold and Italian mirrors. As many as 
eight hundred of us nobles and guests and fine and high¬ 
born people came in masks, the King himself as a boat¬ 
man ; the Princess Ulrica as a Dutch woman; while the 
Prince of Wolfenbuttel came as a Muscovite, and droll 
Axel Sparre as an old market-woman with a great 
basket filled with cherries. Indeed, they roused much 
merriment with many a side-splitting jest. After a 
prologue, with music, song, and decent dancing, show¬ 
ing how the Gods of Olympus were awakened during 
the happy and peaceful reign of Charles the Twelfth, the 
King’s French troupe played Moliere’s Le Bourgeois 
Gentilhomme, whereupon Pomona, surrounded by 
nymphs and fauns, invited everyone in an aria to the 
table. Here the feasting began with refreshments 
served by bacchantes and satyrs, while drinking songs 
were given by the King’s first male and female singers. 
After the supper, the real ballet began, while dancing 
continued until the sun once more rose in the sky. 

Indeed, it was a most pleasant masque. Since the 
days of Queen Christina such revelries had not been 
seen. Likewise the sixty-third birthday of the Queen 
Dowager, Hedvig Eleanora, was celebrated with won¬ 
derful fetes. All night the gardens were illumined, no 
less than three masques were held, costing each well- 
nigh forty thousand dollars, and of so magnificent a 
66 


MINDFUL OF KINGLY DUTIES 


nature that even the Court of Louis was envious 
of Sweden. 

In the midst of all this wild behavior and extrava¬ 
gance, Charles had not forgotten his kingly duties, large 
and small. Up early in the morning, he would, after 
reading his Bible, give grave consideration to many im¬ 
portant matters of state. New and wise laws, the pro¬ 
tection of religion, the industries and shipping, help for 
the starving provinces — to all these he gave attention. 
He understood well both how to speak and how to lis¬ 
ten. This constancy in purpose as well as character was 
already becoming apparent to all of us who stood near 
the young monarch. He was not to be drawn hither and 
thither by new influences or changing currents. 

Our army was his great concern. The most dangerous 
neighbor, Denmark, whose old King, Christian the 
Fifth, good-natured and peaceful-minded, was about to 
die, had with its scarcely two million people, an army 
of thirty thousand men. Charles’s problem was more 
difficult, for our country, unlike Denmark, was not a 
homogeneous political unit, governed uniformly by simi¬ 
lar laws. It was of greater extent, but weakly knit to¬ 
gether. Almost a quarter of our troops consisted of fine 
cavalry, that always decided the conflict in Eastern 
Europe. Two thirds of the foot-soldiers had fine new 
flint-locked muskets, while the remainder carried pikes. 
The art of war our generals had all learned from the 
careful methods and rules taught in the thickly popu¬ 
lated and fortressed Lowlands. 

Not a day passed without Charles training his soldiers, 
seeming thereby, to those of us who watched him, to 

67 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


be well aware that Sweden had attained her power in 
too short a time and by far too violent means, not to 
awaken the jealousy of those neighbors who had suf¬ 
fered by her gains. In all exchange of royal courtesies 
between him and other rulers, he was always the most 
generous giver. Where he received horses, he would 
send a princely retinue to Moskowa, with no less than 
three hundred iron cannon and silver dishes and plat¬ 
ters weighing full five thousand ounces. 

But no matter was too small for his royal concern. 
His chaplain’s half-witted daughter would claim as 
much attention as his cannon or soldiers, and his in¬ 
genious mind hit at last upon a likely remedy for her 
feeble brains. And so with fatherly concern he wrote that 
every time nourishment was given her, she should hear 
“Our Father” read, as well as the 51st Psalm of David, 
and if she showed herself refractory and would not 
piously repeat the Lord’s Prayer and the psalm, she 
should receive three or four strokes or whipping tests, 
two at a time, the strokes to cease as soon as she began 
to pray. 


CHAPTER V 


THE STORM BREAKS 

In the spring of 1699, when war broke out between 
Denmark and Holstein, the duke with his Swedish bride 
fled to Sweden, which caused much anxiety throughout 
the land, both because of the great cost of supporting the 
entire Court of Holstein, consisting of more than fifty 
noble personages, as also because of the probable effect 
upon the Court of King Charles. The fortifications 
which the duke had had the audacity to build on the 
Danish frontier had excited the anger of Denmark. In 
fact, a whole nest was stirred up, and the wasps of Swe¬ 
den, Prussia, Saxony, Brunswick and Hanover, as well 
as the sea powers, began buzzing and preparing to sting 
in concert with Denmark and the duchies. Charles, 
who had fared south to meet the duke and duchess, de¬ 
cided to transfer soldiers from his Wismar and Bremen 
regiments to assist in the defense of the fortifications in 
Holstein. There was truly no desire for war on the part 
of our King, but the whole foreign policy of our country 
had become entangled with the duchies; the King had 
no arrogant delight in war, but on the contrary was calm 
and thoughtful in his decision. 

As by the wand of a magician, the boy became a man; 
his pranks gave way to serious, earnest work, but foreign 
diplomats mistook his complaisant exterior for igno¬ 
rance of the danger. On all sides, for those who could 
see, trouble was brewing; conspiracies were rife; ambas- 
69 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

sadors and confidential messengers were whispering be¬ 
hind closed doors, as busy as the devil in a gale of wind, 
and scurrying with bellying sails or galloping horses 
from one northern capital to another. The Swedish 
diplomats alone seemed lulled to sleep and unaware of 
the impending storm. 

Saxon Augustus sent Count Galetski to Stockholm 
with every assurance of friendship, to confirm the peace 
of Olivia, of 1660, and with honeyed words to assure 
peaceful relations with Poland. The Tsar of Mus¬ 
covy forced the Porte to conclude the first humiliating 
peace treaty it had ever signed with Christian powers; 
while in Moskowa the Swedish ambassadors came laden 
with gifts at the very moment the Saxon envoys ar¬ 
rived to plot against Sweden — Peter and Augustus 
having already as good as agreed upon common action, 
hand in hand with Denmark. At Rawa, Peter and Au¬ 
gustus had for four days feasted and drunk full royally 
together. Their mouths were full of cursing and deceit 
and fraud, and under their tongues were mischief and 
vanity. The platters were emptied, while not a cup was 
left undrained or a woman chaste. In their evil councils 
they parted our fair provinces between them, and in 
their farewell embraces exchanged their arms and cloth¬ 
ing. So bejewelled a sword or embroidered a waistcoat 
Tsar Peter had never worn! 

Throughout the meeting the cunning Augustus never 
failed to address the Grand Tsar of Muscovy as “ Your 
Majesty,” a title sedulously withheld from him on his 
visit to Leopold I. Augustus was to reach northward 
into Esthonia and Livonia; Peter still further north to 
70 


A NET FOR THE LION CUB 


Ingria, therewith gaining access to the Baltic, the while 
Fredrik of Denmark might with peaceably free hands 
settle his Holstein business, and if Brandenburg would 
have a finger in the pie, why, she might have Stettin and 
Pomerania again. It was a pretty net in which the Lion 
Cub was to be caught, have his young teeth drawn and 
dangerous claws filed off. The net was there, woven by 
the statesmanship of Augustus, who, finding the throne 
of Poland an insecure perch, needed occupation for his 
soldiers in order to distract the attention and draw the 
eyes of his turbulent Polish subjects. But Augustus’s 
craft at building a realm together was, alas for the mili¬ 
tary monarchy he dreamed of founding, not equal to his 
politic diplomacy. 

The first thunderclap was to come from the eastern 
shores of the Baltic, as a direct result of the machina¬ 
tions of Patkul and Fleming, two adversaries who were 
time and again to cross the path of Sweden, one to curse 
her and be so miserably punished, the other to see her 
ruin. Livonia, the most northerly and the richest of the 
two provinces south of Finland, or our proper kingdom, 
had previously belonged to Knights of the Teuton 
Order. Russia, Poland and Sweden had all cast sheep’s 
eyes upon it until we had finally seized it full a hundred 
years ago, and, possession being nine tenths of the law, 
the remaining tenth was ceded us by the Peace of 
Olivia. The religion of Luther had gradually, through 
Swedish possession, become that of the provinces, and 
this common interest thus leagued mother and daugh¬ 
ters against Catholic Poland. The Baltic, open in the 
summer and autumn, was a constant thoroughfare. 
7i 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


For by degrees Finland, Ingria, Livonia, and Esthonia, 
became the great storehouse of Sweden, whence came 
most of our food — pork, salted and dried meats, butter, 
lard, and all kinds of fish from Finland and corn and 
wheat from the other provinces. On the other hand, 
differences in language, in laws and government and 
historical traditions, brought out their divergence. Each 
had its own constitution, under the sovereignty of Swe¬ 
den — constitutions which, with their meetings, noble 
estates, and councils, were but bulwarks against the 
power of the noble landlords. The cities had their own 
special privileges, but little voice in the government of 
the country; the poor peasants were with few exceptions 
but serfs, and cruelly treated by their landlords. 

Patkul, a creature in turn of one monarch after an¬ 
other, always in the service of him who was willing and 
able to strike the hardest at Swedeland, was a Livonian 
of noble and honorable family, who had been born in a 
Stockholm dungeon, his mother having followed his 
father who lay there under suspicion of high treason. 
He was of graceful person, ready wit, fine address, and 
great parts, improved by good learning of the sciences 
and knowledge of the world, thereto having a smooth 
tongue and knowing how to give an appearance of truth 
to the great falsities. I have heard wise statesmen say, 
and I have read memoirs of others who have insisted, 
that he, even more than their Majesties Peter and Au¬ 
gustus, was the greatest cause of Sweden’s later mis¬ 
fortunes. His hatred was fierce and ceased only with his 
life. Here and there, everywhere, with industry prying 
into the corners of every capital of Europe to fan the 
72 


PATKUL’S TREACHERY 


flame, he plotted and planned with unceasing energy 
and demoniacal skill, every thrust to be made at the 
heart of his own sovereign. 

He had early been condemned to death after leading 
to Stockholm a deputation of Livonian gentry to pro¬ 
test against the rigor with which the land-recovery sys¬ 
tem was being carried out in his native province. The 
violent and offensive language of his petition caused 
him, like his father, to be accused of high treason. His 
flight to Switzerland availed him not against condemna¬ 
tion, in contumaciam , to lose his right hand and his head. 
But I shall later return to his ill-starred career and hor¬ 
rible end. Now, whispering in the ear of the all-too- 
willing Augustus, he told of the ease with which Livonia 
might be invaded and how the nobles there would rally 
to the Saxon arms. Of all times this was the most pro¬ 
pitious for an invasion. Like a ripe apple Livonia would 
fall from the Swedish tree into the outstretched hand 
of Augustus. Sweden would be busy in Holstein and 
Peter rush down from the north. 

An embassy with rare gifts and friendly demonstra¬ 
tions was sent to Sweden, while Patkul and the great 
Saxon General Fleming marched toward the frontier of 
the Swedish provinces. We first heard of it in this 
wise. King Charles, now eighteen years old, was out 
bear-hunting. Sweating at every pore, hunters around 
him, horns blowing, he had just caught, scarce four¬ 
teen miles from Stockholm, a fat old bear whose jaws 
were still red and her paunch full with a calf. 

Through a hallooing throng broke a steaming horse¬ 
man— good, faithful old Governor Dahlberg was send- 
73 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


ing word of Saxony’s perfidious act, the invasion of 
Livonia. Charles stood as petrified, and the scales fell 
from his eyes. Turning to Count Guiscard, the French 
Ambassador, who but a moment before had been sorting 
out the bear-nets, says Charles, “We shall soon force 
the Saxons to return the same way they came.” 

We soldiers of prophetic vision saw Sweden not only 
at war, but entering upon one by which she would either 
become as great a power as France, or sink forever into 
European obscurity. During that steaming ride from 
Kingsor to Stockholm, the boy of eighteen became a 
man, taking counsel in his own soul. War had become 
his handicraft and trade. Europe was once more to 
learn that a great warrior had ascended the throne of 
Sweden, and Gustavus Adolphus and Charles the 
Tenth had a worthy successor. 

Charles clapped his spurs into the flanks of his horse 
and away down the road, and so into Stockholm, and 
therewith entered his capital for the last time in his life. 
Even shorter of speech and quicker of action than usual, 
Charles issued his orders. The page Kagg, who slept on 
the floor, outside the royal door, had no sleep that night. 
Couriers flew to Welling at Narva and to Dahlberg at 
Riga and to the fleet at Carlscrona — 10,000 strong the 
regiments across the Baltic were to march, while those 
of our own dear country were quickly ordered out and 
south, from one end of the kingdom to the other. Just as 
the Duchess of Holstein was giving birth to the illustrious 
Charles Fredrik, 1 the booming of the birthday cannons 

1 Later married to Anna, daughter of Peter the Great. Their son, 
Charles Peter Ulric, became Tsar under the title of Peter III. 

74 


THE CALL TO THE COLORS 


mingled with the roll of the drums and the sound of 
the bugles calling the boys in blue and yellow to the 
colors. 

Toward Denmark and Holstein were Charles's eyes 
first turned. “War, War!” was blown from the highest 
battlements and towers. Old regiments were completed, 
the clergy and burghers and good folks of Stockholm 
subscribing to the new ones, and we nobles as always 
gave a free company for the Crown. The duke had al¬ 
ready left his newborn heir, hurrying south to his duchy, 
where Swedish troops had marched from Germany in to 
his assistance. Denmark was our first goal, for a Swede 
would, as is well known, rather stick a Dane than a pig. 

In the midst of the bustle of preparation, I meeting 
the King in one of the corridors, he greeted me as cap¬ 
tain. Whereupon, I stammering I know not what words 
of gratitude and devotion to His Majesty’s service, he 
claps me his hand on my shoulder, and says I am to serve 
on his personal staff that he may not delay my further 
promotion for want of observation of my merit. “ For,” 
says he, “here is glory enough before us for all, and all 
shall share according to deserts.” I think at my age I 
may set down the words he spoke of me as if they were 
spoken of another, for God knows I write now without 
vanity. When my commission came to me it was for a 
troop in His Majesty’s own corps of drabants. 

Spring turned into summer before the Swedish men- 
of-war were crowded with sailors and the pennants were 
hoisted on the topmasts. Audacity and quick resolu¬ 
tion already marked the boy King, as well, alas, as the 
haughty reserve centred about himself, as the heavens 

75 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


about the pole-star, which insisted upon standing alone, 
in spite of everybody and everything. 

Like the eagle was he to swoop down and strike his tal¬ 
ons in the flesh of the old enemy, Denmark, and where 
she least expected it. Instead of embarking for the seat 
of war in the duchies, Charles steered straight for the 
heart of Denmark, like unto Scipio Africanus of old 
when he carried the war to Africa in order to fight 
Hannibal in Italy. 

Ah! those were gallant ships and fine fellows that 
were to fight for Sweden in that most glorious year of 
her history, 1700! The Swedish soldiers then surpassed 
all others. They displayed a military discipline never 
to be shaken, patience, unflinching courage, and a well- 
nigh miraculous capacity to suffer hunger, thirst, and 
cold, neglect, and all manner of privation. At the sight 
of the enemy they burned with impatience to attack. 
And, however great the danger, when their commander 
charged, they followed. My old soldier’s heart still 
burns and swells with pride as I think of those noble 
boys in blue. Only once in eighteen years did the great 
commander hear that they were retreating, and then he 
was unable to believe his ears. Had Marlborough, or 
Prince Eugene, or Prussian Fredrik had them, they 
could have conquered the world! But as no other war¬ 
rior known in history was Charles to possess the idoliz¬ 
ing and deifying love and worship of these bravest of 
followers. Like unto his dying dogs, they would gladly 
lick his hand. 

Thirty-eight proud ships of the line, ‘besides many a 
gallant smaller vessel, set sail down Baltic shores with 
76 



















ABOARD THE FLAGSHIP 


their twenty-seven hundred cannon, under the com¬ 
mand of the deserving old general — Admiral Wacht- 
meister. Everybody was on board — Charles on the 
King Charles; Piper; Rehnskold, the great general; 
Guiscard, the French Ambassador; and old Stuart who 
had taught the little Prince his first lessons in holding 
the sword and his last in taking a fortress. 

As one of the King’s personal staff, I was aboard the 
flagship with him. It was a clear, cool day in spring, 
with a brisk breeze on our quarter, the sea like sapphire 
glistening in the sun and dotted with white caps. I was 
ever a good sailor, and merely to be on the sea at any 
time in my life has been to me an uplifting of the spirit. 
But on this day, not only I but all of us were fairly in¬ 
toxicated in mood by the clear air, the cool, salt breeze, 
and the excitement of the expedition. Whenever we 
could, for we preserved some decorum in the King’s 
presence, we laughed and sang, knocked one another’s 
hats overboard, and played a thousand monkey tricks 
like a pack of boys. Indeed, there were times when I 
thought that the King himself would go back to some of 
his boyishness. Now and then he joined in a little of our 
fun, but for the most part the responsibility of the work 
in hand was as a weight on his demeanor if not on his 
spirit. 

I was always fonder of the sea than of aught else, and 
but for my father’s service at court I think I should have 
entered the King’s navy rather than his army. This 
voyage, short as it was, stays in my memory like a 
glimpse of sunshine through clouds. For hours I would 
lean over the rail by the bowsprit, watching the brave 

77 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

bows of the ship shouldering the waves aside in a lather 
of white foam which went racing astern in lacy shreds 
over the rich sapphire and purple of the sea. I made 
friends with the quartermaster till he would give me a 
trick at the wheel now and then; and better than the 
feel of any horse do I love the tugging of a ship in a stiff 
wind, sailing close-hauled. And one night I took a full 
watch at the wheel, steering by compass and the fly at 
the masthead, which I could barely see against the 
stars as the mast swung back and forth among the con¬ 
stellations. 

By day the fleet was a brave sight, and one that 
would make a man’s heart leap up if he so much as had 
one in his bosom. The sea flashing and sparkling, the 
new white sails swelling bravely, the gay pennants 
stiffly whipping and snapping, and far away behind us, 
nigh as far as one could see, the white sails of our fleet 
flocking like birds behind their leader. Headland after 
headland we raised and passed, some near enough so 
that we could see them gray and green with rock and for¬ 
est, others far low and purple like mere clouds in the 
offing. So we sailed to meet the other great fleet, that 
of Denmark, which around her coast, up and down her 
shores, spying across the Oresund, watching the Swed¬ 
ish headlands, was coming to meet us — the fleet which 
for centuries had been the pride and boast of the little 
country. 

Up through the Skagerak and down through the Kat¬ 
tegat with every sail set, snuffing trouble in the spank¬ 
ing breeze, came Rooke’s great fleet, with the crosses 
of St. George floating from every vessel’s stern, closely 
78 


THE ADMIRAL REPROVED 


followed by the hearts of oak of the Netherlands. A great 
sight indeed to see. The guns of Elsinore saluted; the 
excited people rushed to the battlements. Across the 
narrow passage at Helsingborg the shore was lined with 
the terrified populace. Burning with impatience, the 
ardent young King berated old Wachtmeister for ma¬ 
noeuvring and seeking protection under our coast instead 
of joining the allies’ fleets — for the great sea powers 
were there by virtue of their being guarantors, like unto 
Sweden, of the Peace of Altona. 

There were but two passages through the narrow 
sound; the only navigable one by which our large ships 
might join the allies was blocked by the Danes. And so 
we sailed. Charles sent this message to his admiral: — 

We cannot but feel that great glory and advantage are be¬ 
ing lost for us by this dillydallying. Now the Englishmen 
and Hollanders have weighed anchor and with a favoring 
wind sailed nearer to Landscrona, showing thereby that in 
them is to be found greater zeal and gravity in their desire for 
union of our fleets than in us. This must call forth condem¬ 
nation that we desire to place upon them the burden of sus¬ 
taining the first blow, and later take the glory for ourselves. 
Thus we can no longer neglect to express to you our greatest 
displeasure, which will not be removed unless you, after this, 
attempt with braver behavior and maturer conduits, to re¬ 
pair what therein has been lacking. 

A hard thrust indeed at the gallant old General-Ad¬ 
miral, who had for full forty years fought for his country 
and for twenty thereof built up her navy with great toil. 
Now with bleeding heart he replied to the impatience 
and recklessness of youth that he must sorrowfully ac¬ 
knowledge that since he first drew his sword and during 
the many years he, with blood, labor, and grief, had un- 

79 




CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

sparingly fulfilled his duty as a subject to His Majesty’s 
noble father and the fatherland, never had he received 
a harder blow than the King’s order. He had nothing 
further to say except that he trusted that he would once 
more prove that he was second to none. 

In reply Charles ordered the aged General-Admiral 
to attempt the shallow passage, adding that he under¬ 
stood not the meaning of the word “ impossible.” All 
except one or two of the Swedish squadron passed 
through, joined the allies, and the pennants of Denmark 
withdrew to the harbor of Copenhagen. 

Shortly after, the landing upon Danish soil took place. 
The small boats, laden with grenadiers and chevaux-de- 
frise, led the van, closely followed by others carrying 
soldiers with shovels and fascines. In front of all was 
the King’s barge filled with his brave guardsmen. Count 
Guiscard, the French Ambassador, was then with him, 
for as we were going down into the barge from the ship, 
the count came forward to go with us. “Mr. Ambas¬ 
sador,” said Charles to him in Latin, — indeed, he never 
addressed him in the French tongue, for that he would 
only employ if addressing King Louis, and it were 
rather for the ambassador to speak Swedish, — “Mr. 
Ambassador, you have no quarrel with the Danes: I 
therefore beg you, go no further.” 

“Your Majesty,” answered the count in French, 
“the King my master has commanded me to stay be¬ 
side Your Majesty, and I hope that Your Majesty will 
not to-day dismiss me from your court, which has never 
been more brilliant.” 

With these words he gave King Charles his hand and 
80 


THE LANDING IN DENMARK 


they both, with Carl Piper, sprang into the barge. When 
they had come within three hundred feet of the shore, 
His Majesty, who found progress slow, jumped into the 
water up to his waist, whereat Rehnskold whispered me 
in the ear that the King read Latin no less diligently 
than he spoke it. I understood that he was thinking of 
Caesar’s first landing in Britain, and belike he even 
thought it was Caesar who leaped into the sea; but there 
was no time for disputation. Ambassador, minister, 
officers, and soldiers followed the King, and all waded 
ashore through the whining of the bullets. But ’twas 
not much of a bloody touch! 

The General-Admiral hoisted the red flag upon the 
main mast of his flagship, the Great Admiral; eight can¬ 
nons were fired, the Swedes advanced, and the small 
intrenchment of Danish foot and horse guarding the 
Danish shores at this point stood not to their tackle but 
fled before our troops. In the King’s Copenhagen there 
was terrible consternation, the while our regiments, after 
safe transport and quartering in the country, spent the 
time most pleasantly shooting stags and roebucks or 
trading provisions with the mild and complaisant peas¬ 
ants. Some of them, too, made bold with their first con¬ 
venience to trespass upon the country for a few horses, 
to remount. In order to satisfy their curiosity as well as 
show their admiration, many a citizen of Copenhagen 
joined with the sailors of the allied fleets in viewing 
King Charles drill his regiments and order his army to 
make their evolutions within the Swedish camp. 

In the duchies, Denmark was in an equal pickle. 
Sweden, Holstein, and their German allies shortly 
8i 




CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


forced upon King Fredrik, still weak from smallpox, an 
ignominious peace at Traventhal, the tidings of which 
were brought King Charles at breakneck speed as he was 
about to advance upon Copenhagen. And therewithal 
our King wrote a gracious letter to his Danish cousin 
and received one like unto it from him. With many a 
token of the regard of the people, Charles and his army 
set sail for the eastern seat of war and the day of reckon¬ 
ing with Augustus and his perfidious Muscovite ally. 

Back went our troops to Sweden to reimbark for this 
second enterprise. Glad were we all when we sighted the 
distant shores of Carelia, for the great wind had made 
the stoutest of us fearful of taking more nourishment, 
after all we had cast up into the sea; and many of the 
horses had in the pickle crushed each other, being 
thrown by the high waves. It was the worst voyage 
sure that ever man went. We sang hymns and praises 
to God when we at last came upon the coast and landed 
at Pernau. 

Our affairs, though they showed us a very dismal 
aspect, were not as desperate as they might have been; 
but great was our indignation and hatred when we heard 
of the treacherous conduct of the Muscovite. His am¬ 
bassador of peace and good-will had but a short yester¬ 
day ago been received by our gracious King while we 
camped in Denmark, with the sound of drums and bugles 
and the greatest honor. On the selfsame day, we now 
learned, his perfidious trumpets had declared war 
against us from the walls of Moskowa. 

Erik Dahlberg, bravest of Swedish soldiers and great¬ 
est of engineers, had, with Welling’s help, successfully 
82 


OFF FOR NARVA 


withstood all attacks on Riga by the Saxons under 
Fleming, who at last, disappointed and desperate, were 
forced to turn their attention to Dunamiinde. 

The Saxons might expect further chastisement, but 
not so the Muscovites pressing hard poor Horn near 
the city of Narva. Therefore, when we spread our sails 
to cross the Baltic, it was indeed for the gulf Riga that 
we made; but when we had weathered the headland, the 
Kolken, we turned not south to Riga itself but kept on 
our northeasterly course to Pernau. There we landed 
and arrayed our forces for the long march before us, for 
in truth no one of us guessed, not Charles himself, how 
long a march it was to be. The King thought only of 
our brave comrades so sorely besieged at Narva. 
Scarcely would he give us time to catch our breath from 
our rough voyage before he would push on to relieve 
them. Messenger after messenger he despatched, 
promising them a speedy revival, and long before we 
were in marching order he wrote to Horn: “To-morrow 
we shall break up from here, and at the earliest reach 
your vicinity with so strong a detachment that, with 
God’s assistance, we shall be sufficiently grown to dis¬ 
lodge the said rebel and compel the rascals to give way.” 

And on the morrow, indeed, forth he set, before half 
of our force was ready to march. He took with him all 
his cavalry and such of our light infantry as he thought 
could keep up on the forced march to Reval, on which 
he set out; all told, perhaps between seven and eight 
thousand men, as I have said, about half of all the army 
that sailed with him. Thus began the march to the most 
glorious engagement ever fought by Swedish arms. 



CHAPTER VI 

NARVA AND THE SAXON CAMPAIGNS 

And now I come to that great event which will ever 
in times to come make the hearts of our children beat 
with pride at the thought that they may call themselves 
Swedes. Yes, because of the bravery, endurance, and 
contempt of death of the Swedish soldiers, Narva shall 
ever be a glorious word for Sweden. My own old heart 
beats fast within me as I recall it once again. Hunger was 
gnawing at my vitals and frost freezing every extremity 
of the body in those frightful days between Wesenberg 
and our destination. 

It was a desolate land, at least as we saw it then in 
the winter. What it may be at a more fruitful season I 
cannot guess. For the most part it lay low, rolling and 
monotonous, low brown hills and the icy muddy road 
torn by our horses' hoofs and rutted by such wagons and 
artillery as we had with us in our swift march, the King 
ever to the fore of a group, of which I was one, beside 
and behind him. Our horses’ hoofs clashed in the ice 
of the road as if it had been paved with sheets of glass; 
but by noon they would be up to their bellies in mud. 
As I look back at it, it seems to me we scarce saw a 
gleam of sunshine all the way to Narva, but ever it was 
smoky fog rolling over from the sea or from the lakes 
to the eastward. Cold rain had driven in on a sharp 
wind; it wet us to the skin and trickled down our spines 

84 















































































































































































































































































































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EUROPE AT THE TIME OF THE BATTLE OF NARVA 
From the Map by K. von Spruner and C. A. Bretsr.hneider, published by Justus Perthes , Gotha 































































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» 























































A DESPERATE VENTURE 


into our saddles, as well as a fine sleet like salt that beat 
and scratched our faces, blinded our eyes, and sifted 
into every thread of our garments. Such weather a man 
may endure if ever he have a bright fire and a hearty 
meal at the end of a day of it, but if there were a hearty 
meal to be had from the time we set sail till Narva was 
won, I have no memory of it now. But we minded it 
not and laughed in spite of it all, saying that we would 
not have been so hasty to empty our stomachs in cross¬ 
ing the Baltic had we known how long it would be ere 
they should be filled again. Even our poor beasts were 
so empty of fodder that we called them our drums, and 
beat their hollow flanks with our boots to urge them on. 

For ourselves, our spirits urged us on rapidly enough, 
like hounds on the scent of the Muscovite, with the scent 
growing ever stronger, as we neared Narva. It was a 
desperate chance we had before us. If we had stopped 
to think, we should not have seen a chance in a thousand 
that we should succeed in our venture, but it was not 
our business to think. That we left to the King. High 
up in the pass of Pyhajoggi stood General Scheremetoff 
with five thousand men. They fled before our advance 
guard as chaff before the wind — and no other force 
opposed us as we swept through the pass. Praised be 
God on high, we reached Lagena through the mud and 
torrents! Every heart stood still in our camp after we 
had given the good Swedish signal of every soldier in 
the army firing two shots in the air. Were the gallant 
defenders of Narva still there to hear that Swedish help 
was near — or was it all over and the Muscovites 
within our fortress? A few hour-long minutes and 
85 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

through the sleet of the winter night came back to 
our gladdened ears the greeting of two distant hollow 
discharges of cannon and musketry. Ah, verily it was 
here the Lord was to let us set our feet on the necks of 
our enemies, that we might utterly destroy them. 

There were never hungrier beasts or men than those 
who staggered to their feet in the blackness of that win¬ 
ter morning, the glorious thirteenth of November. By 
ten we had driven in outposts; King Charles had recon¬ 
noitred his ground and once more we gave our double 
Swedish musquetry signal, as a challenge to the enemy 
to charge. From regiment to regiment ran the watch¬ 
word, ‘‘With God’s Help.” Down the lines it was re¬ 
peated, in every accent of country, mountain, valley, 
and province. The army all drawn up in battalion was a 
sorry sight for the eyes of an old campaigner, but above 
the lank, bedraggled figures were faces burning with the 
determination to conquer or die. On the right com¬ 
manded Welling, with the foot under Posse in front and 
the cavalry behind under Wachtmeister. On the left 
sat surly old Rehnskold of dare-devil tactics so dear to 
Charles’s heart — he who became victor of Halmstadt, 
Lund, and Landscrona; Maidel and Stenbock com¬ 
manded the regiments under him; Sjoblad and Rebbing 
were in the centre. From a little hill above us our can¬ 
nons were already roaring. 

We of the drabants were with the rest of the horse, on 
the left behind the first columns of foot. We had had 
little sleep that night, the men because there was no 
comfort to be had, and the officers because of the work 
to be done in preparation for the attack. All night long 
86 


ATTACK ON NARVA 


we rid back and forth with messages and commands, and 
all the forenoon moving our commands into position, 
and driving in the Russian outposts. Major Appelman, 
our artillery officer, had succeeded in overtaking us dur¬ 
ing the night with sixteen pieces of field-artillery, though 
how he did it I could not guess, over the roads that had 
so nearly mired our horses. These, with the help of the 
guards, he had placed on a small hill to the rear of our 
centre. As soon as they were placed, they began throw¬ 
ing round shot over our heads, first into the outposts; 
then, as these were driven in and we moved to their 
places, they began to get the range of the bastions and 
trenches. These extended, as I doubt not all who read 
history know as well as I, across the point of land in the 
bend of the river, from the river on one side to the river 
on the other. They were in point of fact the entrench¬ 
ments which the Russians had thrown up to protect 
what was originally their rear as they besieged the city 
on the extreme point of the bend. In most places the 
wall was some nine feet high, with a six-foot ditch out¬ 
side it. Within, the Russian troops numbered some 
forty-eight thousand, as we learned afterward, to¬ 
gether with one hundred and sixty pieces of cannon. 
Foot and horse together we numbered between seven 
and eight thousand men. 

At this time I dare not think of the foolhardiness of 
our enterprise; at that time I did not think of it at all. 
It is true we joked about leaping our horses, squadron 
by squadron, over the nine-foot walls, and wishing that 
the Muscovites would come out so that we might fill the 
moat with their bodies, and the like; but I do not recall 

87 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

that it occurred to us to wonder seriously how we were 
to get over; the King had ordered us to attack; that was 
enough for us. Thus we laughed and chatted as we sat 
our horses in the ranks early in the afternoon, for the 
most part turned in our saddles, watching to the rear 
for the rocket signal for the attack. Then came by a 
marching regiment in haste toward the front, carrying 
huge bundles of branches, like big faggots, only green, 
and of them we made sport again, asking them where 
they would find handles to their brooms, and how they 
would stop round shot with twigs, and such like folly. 
But they were to fill the fosse for our passage of it. 

As we looked to the rear suddenly there piled up be¬ 
hind us a huge black snow-cloud, and even as we began 
to feel the icy wind of it, we saw against its belly the 
red streaks of the signal rockets; whereat we yelled like 
demons, and set our faces to the front. Almost at the 
moment the snow came whipping and whirling on the 
wind against our backs, and with that the fight began. 
We moved forward, freezing to the marrow with the bit¬ 
ing snow-wind, with not enough fighting for quarter of an 
hour or more to keep us warm. Then the foot regiments 
before us broke through, and we went forward with a 
rush, into the faces of the Russian gunners, who were 
blinded by the snow, for most of their shots went wild, 
yet they took some toll of us, too. How we got in even 
then I cannot say now; for what with the confusion and 
hellish noise of the fight, and the darkness of the storm, 
I saw little and remember less. But I recall that, when 
we were within, there was scant room for cavalry at first, 
what between the tents and the redoubts; and that with 
88 


THE KING IN DANGER 


the ditches and the guy-ropes we lost many a horse with 
broken legs. And from then on it was rather butchery 
than battle. I have seen many a hard-fought field, but 
never saw a slaughter like unto that which befell the 
Muscovite hordes. The water in the trenches was turned 
to blood, and the corpses were piled high as the bastions. 
For the God of battles was with us, and He knew the 
righteousness of our cause. 

Twice His Majesty was sinking in the damnable 
morass, but think how the Lord preserved him! As he 
lay with his horse half under water, and the horse could 
not get up with him, and no one was by him but the 
Chamberlain Axel Hard, he at last cried aloud in Fin¬ 
nish to two Finns not far off to come and help “Kon- 
nunga.” 1 And when they heard the magic word “ Kon- 
nunga,” they ran apace and were able to pull him up out 
of the water, but the one boot and stocking remained 
in the mire, and His Majesty’s sword was lost; the 
horse they also pulled out, one dragging the bridle, the 
other firing his musket on the tender part under the 
tail. Then His Majesty took one of Axel’s boots upon 
his naked leg, and a sword from a guardsman, and rushed 
once more into the fray. Oh! but it was fine to see Sten- 
bock spitting between his jolly oaths as he beat the dust 
out of the Russian jackets with his rapier! Laughing, 
kindly even in the fight, beloved of all, true disciple of 
his King — to live, to see and conquer at both Hel¬ 
singfors and Gadebusch; in at the beginning as well as 
at the end! 

But where was Tsar Peter? We hunted him in and 

1 The King. 

89 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


out, breaking through many a mel£e and solid square to 
reach the gold lace of an officer, only to be rewarded with 
the cursing and reviling of a French or German tongue or 
cowering of a Boyar, but no Peter. With as much cour¬ 
age as a frog has hair on his belly, he had come a few 
nights before to the Prince of Croy and besought him to 
assume the highest command, urging matters of state 
required his immediate departure. Later, amid the 
Prince of Croy’s baggage we found the accusing order 
of the Tsar In which we read in the French tongue: 
“Comme sa Majeste Czarienne, pour des affaires tr&s 
importantes, part d’ici avec le Feld-Mar6chal-Gen6ral, 
pour s’aboucher avec S. M. le Roi de Pologne, nous 
laissons a Son Altesse Serenissime toute notre arm£e.” 
And then, as our brave boys struggled onward through 
the snow to Narva, Peter fled as fast as horseflesh would 
carry him, onward and away from the battle. 

And now, despite the vast numbers against us, the 
bastions were soon surmounted and ditches crossed. 
Then on the right there was nought left for the Russians 
but to flee to the river and bridge behind them. There 
it was they went to wreck. Battalions broke in wild 
flight, the Russian soldiers lay like sand along the slopes. 
In their ignorance and rage the soldiers, not under¬ 
standing the orders of their foreign officers, would have 
killed them all as they turned upon them, had they not 
surrendered to our protection. Thus we took the high 
and mighty commander, the Prince of Croy, the Major- 
General Allard, and many others in high command. 

But this was not all. Before the night was over, there 
fell as our booty the whole train of artillery, the colors 
90 


SLAUGHTER OF MUSCOVITES 

and standards and all supplies, as well as the Tsar's 
own military chest with thirty-two thousand roubles in 
silver coin. 

As for me, my man brought me a very good horse 
with a furniture on him, and one pistol of extraordi¬ 
nary workmanship. The prisoners that we took but 
could not keep, because of our own small force, were 
merely incredible. Many also escaped, for as I have just 
related, in their terror and cowardice they took to the 
bridge and river. Praised be God, the ice was not upon 
the river! If it had been, so many would not so happily 
have succumbed. It proved the greatest delectation to 
see, when they had been driven as immense black masses 
toward the bridge, how this broke into pieces, and soon 
the icy water was crowded with heads sticking up and 
arms and legs, as well as many horses beating the bodies 
down with their hoofs. Then we shot at them and 
screamed in our joy as when out shooting ducks. It was 
an indescribable delight to have seen how God’s hand 
manifestly showed its omnipotence, with so small a 
power as ours, to beat and confound so great a force as 
were these barbarians. No wonder His Majesty after¬ 
wards was joyous and glad, and played and danced in 
the Christmas straw! As in the days of the wandering of 
the Children of Israel, when they gazed enchanted upon 
the Red Sea engulfing the chariots of Pharaoh, so also 
did we Swedes watch the waters of the Narova engulf 
its Russian victims. 

Scarce less wonderful was it to see the discipline of 
our poor famished soldiers when they entered the great 
and beautiful tents of the enemy, where the tables were 
91 



CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


set with silver platters and plates and cases and goblets, 
and filled with food and drink. One such I saw which 
I took to be an officer’s mess tent lined with crimson 
hangings. Adown the centre, cunningly upheld by the 
posts of the tent and on folding supports, ran a long 
table spread for the meal with fifteen or twenty covers 
on a magnificent damask cloth. All the service of silver 
or plate, enough to load a pack train, and about the 
sides seemingly massive carved sideboards, but I doubt 
not they folded cunningly as did chairs set to the table, 
and on the sideboards more silver and plate. Above was 
a dais or estrade for a concert of musicians and their 
instruments, viols, harps, flutes, hautbois, and the like 
all in place, but the players, belike, at the bottom of the 
Narova. Thereto was abundant wine of Champagne, 
and a kind of white brandy they use much among the 
Muscovites, which is very potent, and disagreeable to 
the taste. 

All this plate, as I say, we left untouched for then, 
and I think much of it was sent to Sweden, and after 
some was distributed to the officers of that battle. I 
have and treasure a silver can graved with arms, a cov¬ 
ered posset or caudle-cup nicely graved, and a large silver 
salver. But with horses, arms, and the like, we officers 
might fare as we pleased. I had, as I have said, a good 
horse, a stout red roan, with saddle, and one pistol in 
the left holster, mounted and damascened with gold. 
Besides this I picked up later a belt of soft leather, a 
money-belt well stuffed with gold coins, and in one 
small pocket a huge brilliant, six small ones, a flawed 
emerald but large and well-cut, a handful of garnets 
92 


MORE FURS THAN FUEL 


and a fine turquoise. It was made to wear for safety 
under the clothes, but never for a man save it were some 
wasp-waisted young lieutenant. But pillage was there 
none, for the King’s orders were strict and he cared no 
more than a louse if a disobedient soldier were put to 
death. A little more butchery and patience, and there 
would be corn brandy for every gullet, however parched. 

Night fell and put an end to the fighting, and with the 
dark came the deadly chill from which we had suffered 
all through our long march, and now that we had 
reached our goal we had scarcely more of comfort than 
we had had on the road. With all the richness of the 
booty we found there was scarce anything of what we 
wanted most, namely, wood to our fires. For that we 
searched the camp from end to end, but not a stick 
could we find; and whether the Russians had burned all 
to keep their cowardly carcasses warm, or whether they 
had had none, we could not tell. Some found rich fur 
coats of which there were not a few in the personal 
effects of officers and courtiers, and when we had them, 
we wished right heartily that we had had the camp to 
pillage before we set out on our long march from Pernau. 
But for fuel the best we could find was straw, and a poor 
thing it was, though it kept us doubly warm with the 
need we had ever to walk back and forth bringing it for 
our fires, whereon it burned right merrily as we put it 
on, a little at a time, though at times when one heed¬ 
lessly put on too much it nigh smoked us out of our 
huts. 

One of the warmest of these huts a dozen or so of us 
officers had found and occupied, and we too had a hot 

93 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

straw-fire burning well in the fire-place, and were going, 
turn about, to fetch our fuel when the King came in 
to us. He was muddy from head to foot and wet to the 
skin from his adventure in the swamp, of which I have 
told, but his spirit was never better, and he commanded 
us all to sit again on such seats as we had when he 
entered, nor would he take a seat from any of us, but 
pushed forward a drum which lay by the wall into the 
corner by the fire, and there sat down to dry himself as 
best he could. For a moment or two he spoke with hap¬ 
piness and spirit of our victory, then, as if overcome 
with weariness, he leaned and laid his head on the 
shoulder of one who sat next him. I mind not at this 
day who it was, but it was not I, as one who hath told 
the tale relates. Scarcely had he done so when he fell 
fast asleep, and slept the while we said of him in low 
tones that his sleep was like that of a babe, as tranquil 
and untroubled, rather than that of a warrior in the 
midst of battle and pillage. 

Ten thousand Russians lay dead upon the field and 
six thousand more had already laid down their arms 
and surrendered, and defiled before Charles with bared 
heads. The following day all that had not escaped fol¬ 
lowed their ignoble example. 

Then Charles and his suite took their stand upon one 
of the conquered slopes, his army in a hollow square sur¬ 
rounding him, the glad inhabitants of Narva all around. 
In the middle of the square stood a field chaplain. 
There were placed in front of him three drums, of which 
one was placed upon the two others, thus forming a 
little altar. The music played, we soldiers sang the 

94 



A. Medal with Portrait of Charles XII, struck during his Youth 

B. Medal with Portrait of Charles XII, struck after his Death 

C. D. The Saturn Dollar of Copper with Silver Facing, coined in 
1718 and intended as Legal Tender for Silver 

E, F. Medal struck after the Victory of Narva 


















































































. 


















































• s 
















































- • 














































if 























LAUS DEO 


verses of a hymn, and when the song was still, the field 
chaplain read a short prayer. 

“That is Mans Stenbock, with his Dalekarlias,” said 
King Charles. “They sing the song he himself has writ¬ 
ten.” 

Then, with their chief in front of the regiment, those 
brave lads marched before the King. And he turned to 
the poor dejected Prince of Croy and handed him two 
thousand dollars of the realm, which gave him great 
joy as he no longer had a single stiver left. Now for 
many a night to come he could again make merry in 
his cups. 

Stenbock, 1 Mans “ Sly-Fox,” as His Majesty was 
wont to call him, and Narva’s gallant defender Henning 
Horn, were both made generals, for our enemies had 
fallen into the pit that they had dug for us. Stenbock 
was a complete soldier indeed, and for that reason be¬ 
came soon so well beloved by our gallant King, that he, 
as it was, hardly knew how to go about action without 
him. Many other regiment and line officers were pro¬ 
moted, and none was more surprised than I when the 
King made me colonel, and insisted that I had done 
some feat of gallantry—but how he could have known 
of such a thing I know not, for he could not have seen 
aught that I did, and I knew not well myself what I 
wrought. 

In every town and village and Swedish countryside 
the joyous tidings were soon proclaimed, while the great 
cannons, given Peter by our gracious Lord, as well as 
trophies and banners, were carried in triumph through 

1 Stenbock, i.e. the wild goat, also called “The Buck” by Charles. 

95 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

the Stockholm streets which were most magnificently 
illuminated, and thereto Tessin contributed with many 
a beauteous device. Te Deum was sung, accompanied 
by the discharge of cannon. 

But such was the pride and ignorance of the people of 
Moskowa, that they thought they had been vanquished 
by a superhuman power, and that we Swedes were right 
magicians. Public prayers were ordered to Saint Nicho¬ 
las, the patron saint of Muscovy. And thus it sounded: 

O, Thou who art our perpetual consoler in all our adver¬ 
sities, great Saint Nicholas! Infinitely mighty, by what sin 
have we offended thee in our sacrifices, our genuflexions, 
reverences, and actions of grace, since thou hast thus aban¬ 
doned us? We have implored thy assistance against these 
terrible, insolent, enraged, frightful, invincible destroyers, 
when, as lions and bears who have lost their young, they at¬ 
tacked, frightened, wounded, and killed us by the thousands, 
we who are thy people. As it is impossible that this has come 
about without magic and enchantment, we supplicate thee, 
O Great Saint Nicholas, to be our champion and our stand¬ 
ard-bearer, to rid us of this mob of sorcerers, and to chase 
them very far from our frontiers with the recompense which 
is their due. 

To peace our Charles from henceforth would give no 
ear; his arms were invincible. To those who implored 
him now to listen to the prayers of the ambassadors, or 
at least the wisdom of Bengt Oxenstjerna, he replied, 
“It would put our glory to shame if we were to lend our¬ 
selves to the slightest treaty of accommodation with 
one who so vilely prostituted his honor.” 


CHAPTER VII 

THE OPENING OF THE POLISH CAMPAIGNS 

Here I would digress from martial events to contem¬ 
plate as it were at a distance my hero and the wide 
European arena which he was now about to enter. After 
the lightning swiftness, the masterly daring and tacti¬ 
cal acumen which he had displayed in his descent upon 
Denmark and Muscovy, every court of Europe had its 
eyes riveted upon the Swedish soldier. He was no longer 
to be reckoned with in Scandinavia alone, but as a great 
power in Europe, and every move he made in the great 
game of chess would threaten every piece upon the 
European board. Charles was soon to change this war, 
which his enemies had designed as a bare attack on 
Sweden's position by the Baltic, to a complete remodel¬ 
ling of the whole system of European states. In this 
way his cause gained the same importance as the War 
of the Spanish Succession, in which all were concerned, 
and was involved in many ways with its phases. 

Charles the Twelfth's decision to destroy Augustus 
became the turning point in the history of Sweden — 
one may even say of Europe. In the first astonishing 
year of our campaigns, the lad of barely nineteen had 
shown himself the equal if not the superior of both 
Marlborough and Prince Eugene. The great qualities 
that were soon to place him as one of the great generals 
of the world, by the side of Alexander, Hannibal, and 
97 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

Caesar, were becoming clearly defined against the pale 
light of the northern sky, and the day was all but gone. 
As he advanced along the path of his great career, 
Charles could but change. A one-sided education and 
the constant life of the camp caused the early orphan 
and absolute monarch of fifteen to develop the inflexi¬ 
ble will which became the basis of his character; the 
frolicsome, good-natured, sporting youth was to be 
transformed into the severe, astute and reserved soldier. 
His courage and the mathematic-logical manner of 
military reasoning, as well as his practical method of 
campaigning, astounded all beholders. His modesty and 
simplicity combined with his rare skill in choosing the 
right moment, his strength of body and will, were more 
and more to excite wonder, as well as also, alas! his fail¬ 
ure to understand human nature, his sacrifice of human 
life, and disregard of all advice contrary to his own pre¬ 
conceived opinion. His unconquerable will never to 
submit was to baffle one after the other of his opponents. 
He was never defeated in spirit, save possibly by him¬ 
self. In truth, he might, as he ripened, be said to be¬ 
come the last and complete embodiment of the ages 
that were to pass with him; the embodiment of their 
self-assurance and despotism, and mayhap also of their 
selfishness. 

But now, at the time of which I write, there was 
neither sign nor warning of the swiftly approaching 
catastrophe. I would now also, in honesty, mention 
his carelessness in providing for the proper base of 
supplies for his armies. In body and soul no general 
was ever better equipped. And he would abstain from 
98 



CHARLES XII 

Front the Painting by Von Krnfft in Gripsholm Palace 










































































V * 




















































• I 




































































































CHARLES’S ABSTEMIOUSNESS 


the indulgences so common to youth and, above all, to 
princely personages. Never did I see wine pass his lips 
after one day in his earlier youth, when, upon returning 
from the chase with a parched throat, he drank most 
copiously. Whereupon he presented himself before the 
Queen Dowager, forgetful of the gore and rents made 
by the wild beasts that still disfigured his costume. 
The Queen berating him upon his indecency, and the 
King unwilling to listen to the correction, he turned so 
hurriedly upon his heel that his spur, catching, as mis¬ 
fortune would have it, in the edge of the cloth, the 
small-beer soup, steak, and all were dragged from the 
board, scalding the Queen Dowager most severely. The 
following day, when the two again met at the royal 
table, the old Queen more violently than before re¬ 
commenced her scolding, whereupon the young mon¬ 
arch, commanding his cup-bearer to fill his glass, 
drained it to her health, saying as he did so, since the 
wine had made him lack in respect, it was the last 
time in his life that he would touch it. 

While pimps and procuresses were presenting old 
King Louis with country wenches, Charles in all his life 
was faultless of amorous adventure. And further than 
this, though his manner toward the gentler sex may at 
times have been wanting in the scented gallantry of the 
boudoir, owing to his constant life in the camp, his 
behavior was never lacking in the truest courtesy, nor 
failed in the higher duties of a king. Though absolutely 
indifferent, he was ever faultless in demeanor. 

The laconic answers of the young King and his taci¬ 
turnity became more and more noticeable as he be- 

99 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


came a man. Often when in his tent I have seen him 
courteously receive foreign ministers or other persons 
whose discourse became displeasing to him. After hav¬ 
ing listened for a few minutes, without answering a word, 
but staring them straight in the face, he would, like the 
captured sparrow in a barn, rush out of the opened 
flap, jump upon the horse, always ready saddled night 
and day, and away he would go at full gallop, adjutants 
and drabants trying at breakneck speed to catch up 
with their master. 

His device might indeed have been, “For me nothing 
is impossible.” His habits were frugal and his work 
harder than that of all others, excepting perchance Carl 
Piper. A chapter in his big silver-clasped Bible, a dish 
of beer-soup and a piece of bread, were all he called for 
before beginning the vigorous mental and physical work 
of the morning. More than half an hour was rarely 
given to his silent meal, while nine in the evening would, 
in days of rest, find him stretched upon his field-cot, and 
two or three in the morning hard at work with sleepy 
secretaries. 

And yet he would never give us soldiers a task which 
he would not willingly fulfil himself. His self-sacri¬ 
ficing courage, his hopeful composure and unprejudiced 
foresight were an example to us all, and never would he 
say to us, “Go ahead and fight”; but instead, “Come 
along”; and then he himself went first. 

And as I sit here now and think and write and think 
again of the many qualities that so marked his natural 
talent, his remarkable memory, especially in everything 
connected with ciphers or mathematical problems, me- 


ioo 


WINTER QUARTERS 

thinks, bordered upon that of a genius. Again and again 
have I seen him snatch the despatch, handed by the 
steaming courier to the minister, from the hand of the 
latter and read it to him, the ciphers being all as clear 
in his memory as the very letters of the alphabet; and 
he would forthwith dictate to his astonished Hermelin a 
reply giving each cipher correctly. Finally, I would say 
that in the one great science in which a monarch should 
excel, that of theology, Charles was ever a master. 
Until the day of his death he considered it his highest 
duty and most sacred privilege to guard in his Protestant 
realm his subjects from all false and heretical doctrines, 
for which the Almighty God must gladly have received 
his soul and posterity bless his memory. 

On the 13th of December we broke up from Narva 
’mid the rejoicings of the liberated populace, whose 
scanty supplies we no longer durst eat. Through the 
snows of Livonia we marched until we reached the gates 
of Lais, where we were to rest through months of winter 
suffering, well-nigh until the opening of spring. 

Here from the old feudal castle he sought to make 
conquerors of every one of his soldiers, so that Augustus’s 
army, full thirty thousand strong, might bite the grass 
at the advance of the Swedish columns. Here he drilled 
that most glorious band of soldiers, “the drabants,’’ 
whose fame was even to eclipse the musketeers of the 
King of France. Every one a hero who would rather 
fight than breathe and never returned from combat un¬ 
less victorious. Selected from among the strongest and 
bravest of the army, the very soldiers of the corps were 
all sergeants or lieutenants, and to be one of their com- 


101 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

manding officers was an honor as great as that of the 
general of infantry or cavalry. This I may say at this 
day long after, though I was one of them. There was 
hard work for one and all. Though the men were dirty, 
their arms were clean and bright, and the horses were 
strong and hardy, and well taught their exercises. The 
soldiers learned their business exactly, and their wheel¬ 
ings, marchings, counter-marchings, and exercises were 
done with such order and readiness, that the distinct 
words of command were hardly of any use among 
them. 

Though drilling and shooting and manoeuvring were 
the order of the day, still many a merry hour we whiled 
away 'mid the biting cold of the winter, while waiting 
for reinforcements to arrive from home. With much 
sweetness of humor would His Majesty discourse with 
the meanest soldier. On St. Charles’s Day, the 28th of 
January, Count Stenbock arranged a great hunting 
party, followed by a dinner and an opera. This was en¬ 
titled “A joyous play and song of honor, given in an ex¬ 
cellent Opera to the honor and good cheer of His Ma¬ 
jesty, after the unequalled victory over the Russians, 
upon the great and happy Carol’s Day, which is the 28th 
of January, in the winter quarters by the Castle of Lais, 
arranged by His Majesty’s true man and Major-Gen¬ 
eral the noble Count Stenbock.” Stenbock not only 
composed the verses and the sweet tunes, but conducted 
the opera himself, and held for the King a right German 
oration. While one ballet represented ‘ 1 Some silent 
thoughts which danced incognito and were addressed to 
Count Piper, another was performed by fighters with 


102 


SPORTS AND PASTIMES 


the quill.” The last number was danced by all the 
generals, who sang a “madrigal.” 

There being no real enemy or fortresses to take, His 
Majesty built fortresses of snow and divided his guards¬ 
men into two parties, and they fought for their posses¬ 
sion so lustily that full many an arm and leg were broken 
before the walls were demolished. And when there were 
no further bastions to be taken, I remember how the 
King would on a frosty night break so many window- 
panes with snowballs that the commanding officers and 
civil officials did the following day, in deepest submis¬ 
sion, petition that a royal court glazier might be ap¬ 
pointed for the army, to reset the panes, — a petition 
His Majesty proved his good heart by granting. When 
this jest no longer amused the King, he devised another, 
namely riding into the camp in the calm of the night, 
imitating the frightful shrieks and cries of the Russians, 
so that all would tumble out of their beds and rush into 
the streets with naked swords, ready for the fight. 

The peasant weddings which we attended or arranged 
by good-will or force were also a distraction and 
merriment to us. In writing to his sister, the Princess 
Ulrica Eleanora, King Charles says that 

They take place with many compliments. She, the bride, 
has to shriek and cry without ceasing and lament her vir¬ 
ginity; carries a cloth in front of her face, which from bashful¬ 
ness she will not show. And he grabs her under the arm and 
trots off with her. In front goes one with a sword with which 
he makes the sign of the cross as he passes each door. Later, 
when they should drive to be wedded, the bride sets herself 
upon a cushion in the sled and he sits on his knees in her lap, 
and the whole bridal procession starts off like a pack of 

103 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

wolves with a bagpipe leading them. Those who live near the 
Russian border dance in the Russian manner and stand and 
trip and tramp toward each other in cadence and scream and 
bend and twist their backs as if they were cats. 

P.S. I beg my dear sister to give my greeting to the mis¬ 
tress of the Court and the Ladies Clodt, Gutermut, and 
Emeranca, — and Pompey and Snushane 1 have asked me to 
greet Madame Mignone and any other dogs of the Court. 

About this time, we were much saddened by the death 
of Augustus John Stegeborg, Prince Palatine, who was 
attacked by the purple fever. We took out his intestines, 
and embalmed his body full carefully before sending it 
to Stockholm to be interred among the Princes of the 
Blood. We were soon however cheered by a phenome¬ 
non appearing at noonday upon the sky. For we saw 
two suns upon the heaven, each surrounded by different 
arches, and seeming to form a double C. 

It was not easy to rid ourselves of the foreign am¬ 
bassadors who had followed our army as bees do the 
honey-pot, nor for Piper to answer their insistent de¬ 
mands for audiences. In one thing His Majesty was 
however glad to accede to the request contained in the 
Swedish minister's letter from Paris. He wrote that His 
Most Christian Majesty had expressed especial desire to 
see how those fellows looked who could beat an enemy 
ten times as strong. Charles, after reading the despatch, 
put it in his pocket and continued the review. Coming 
to the Bjorneborg's regiment, the King looked upon his 
Finns with pleasure. Suddenly he commanded one of 
the Finns to step forward. He was a white-haired, 
broad-shouldered fellow, his face stained with powder, 
1 Busybody (a Paul Pry). 

104 


A CAROLINER AT COURT 


just a perfect specimen of his bluff, obstinate, sinewy 
race. He was ordered to go at once as courier to Paris, 
taking with him a letter which on the spur of the mo¬ 
ment was signed by His Majesty. 

According to orders, with many an inquiry on the 
road, the Finn at last arrived at the palace of the Swedish 
minister in Paris, where he was told the minister was 
at the Court. As the soldier had received orders per¬ 
sonally to deliver his letter, he refused to give it up, and 
was thus guided by a lackey to his master, who, look¬ 
ing at the Finn with great joy, requested him to wait in 
the anteroom. Thereupon the minister returned to the 
hall where the Court was assembled and informed King 
Louis that one of the Swedish soldiers was outside, hav¬ 
ing arrived according to the wish expressed by the Great 
Monarch. The King at once ordered the Caroline 1 
brought in, whereupon King Louis and the whole court 
gazed upon him with an astonishment which included 
his simple blue coat with its yellow belt containing the 
long sword. The King ordering refreshments brought, 
the powdered footman came with a tray whereupon was 
a bottle and a small glass as well as cakes. The fellow 
grabbed all the cakes and drained the whole bottle at 
a gulp. The King then desired that his fencing-master 
should be called. Upon entering, he too regarded the 
Finn with astonishment, then made him a genteel com¬ 
pliment and presented him a foil. The Finn gazed upon 
the fencing-master without comprehending his inten¬ 
tion. In order to make himself understood, he struck 

1 The name “Caroliner,” by which Charles the Twelfth’s soldiers 
became known throughout Europe. 

105 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

the breast of the Caroline a couple of times. The latter 
reddened. With a quick movement the fencing-master 
thereupon hit him upon the tip of the nose. The Swed¬ 
ish fellow took a rapid step or two towards his antago¬ 
nist, spat in his fist, and gave him a staggering blow on 
the temple. The fencing-master fell stone dead against 
the wall. 

When the soldier returned in April and had given the 
King a report of how he had fared at Versailles, the King 
made him a petty officer. 

Drilling his soldiers, making of them old fellows used 
to boxing, and lads with iron faces, mustering the new 
regiments arriving from Swedeland, and working late 
and early with Piper and the others in the chancellery, 
were now the routine of the day, broken in upon by the 
consideration of such house matters as craved the King’s 
attention. One day it might be a petition, most grace¬ 
fully couched in verse, from the ladies of Stockholm, 
desiring permission to deck their vain backs with dresses 
of foreign stuffs, in place of good homespun materials. 
Or again, a communication from the clergy, complaining 
that their revenues no longer were as in the old days, 
when they received both cloth and corpse moneys and 
did not have to contribute to the army. Now, alas, they 
seldom received an order for a decent funeral oration, 
for many crammed their dead into the earth without 
religious ceremonies, and several thousands of people 
in the capital were of such meanness they gave nought 
to the clergy. 

With the breaking of spring, Charles turned in earnest 
to what he chose to call his handicraft; moved upon 
106 


ADVANCE AGAINST THE SAXONS 


Dorpat, where our army now numbered full twenty-three 
thousand men, and from there on to Riga, opposite 
which on the other side of the river Diina, lay strongly 
entrenched the third of our enemies, the Saxons. 

The General Otto Welling in Livonia and the crafty 
old warrior,.Count Erik Dahlberg, Governor of Riga, had 
smelt the_Saxon danger at the earliest machinations of 
Patkul, before we ever descended upon Denmark; and 
I have long since recounted how our careful young King 
turned as it were into sober manhood as the bud opens 
into flower, between sunrise and sunset, after that event¬ 
ful day when the Rigan messenger met our jolly hunting 
party. Troops had hastily been summoned from gar¬ 
risons all about, and so gallantly had Riga withstood 
both attack and siege that the Saxons had to content 
themselves with Dunamiinde in place of Riga and with¬ 
draw across the river. Dahlberg had been too sly an old 
fox to credit Patkul’s stories that the advance into 
Lithuania of the Saxon armies was but for the purpose 
of settling or quieting the endless quarrels between the 
Sapieha and the Oginsky and assisting the former in 
their downfall. 

Tsar Peter, after his hurried departure from Narva, 
now full gladly listened to the honeyed words of Pat¬ 
kul. The pipe had now another sound. Augustus at the 
head of his Saxon armies was the cock of the walk. 
Undefeated were his soldiers, and Prussia whispered fair 
promises in Peter’s ears after his having, first of Euro¬ 
pean monarchs, acknowledged the new-fledged king. 1 

1 Frederick William the First, Elector of Brandenburg, assumed the 
title of King of Prussia at Konigsberg in January, 1701. 

107 





CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


A meeting took place between Peter and Augustus at 
Berze, where the Saxons made their terms and Augustus, 
surrounded by his German gentlemen, Saxon troops, 
and Lithuanian nobles, received Peter and his Boyars 
with splendor smacking of overbearing pride. Full well 
did the Saxon covet the finely caparisoned Chinese 
horses, the gold-embroidered tapestries, and the porce¬ 
lains which Peter had brought to his castle, as well as 
the money-chests and mercenaries the Muscovite had 
to offer, for his alliance with his Polish Majesty who 
was ever without money. The bargain was struck, and 
Swedes and Saxons stood each on their side of the Diina. 
Ah ’twas a glad sight for old Dahlberg, who had gained 
many an honorable scar under both father and grand¬ 
father, to note what a chip of the old block the youth of 
nineteen had proved himself! 

The ninth of July was the great day. In order that 
the Saxon generals, Steinau, Prince Ferdinand, and 
General Patkul, might not divine our crossing, we made 
great demonstrations in Riga and upon its other side. 

I was with the King and his staff on a little knoll on 
the right bank of the river overlooking the action when 
the demonstration began. Before long we saw the Saxon 
infantry begin to move away from the works on the 
river-bank. The King was watching them through his 
glass. 

“Good,” says he, “they have taken the bait; all we 
need now is a good snowstorm to our backs as we had 
at Narva, and these fellows should scatter and run as 
did the Muscovite dogs.” 

I wet my finger as we do at sea and held it up to 


SMOKING THE SAXONS 


catch the wind. There was little enough, but what 
there was was moving from the east, that is, from us 
to them. 

“ If all that Your Majesty wants,” says I, “is a snow¬ 
storm, I think we might have one to our purpose or 
something well-nigh as good.” 

He took down his glass and turned to me with the 
same quizzical smile with which he would meet in the 
old days some proposal for a new frolic. 

“Well, Klingspor,” says he, “if you can make us a 
snowstorm, I give you a free hand.” 

Without more ado I left him and climbed down to 
where the scows were gathered for the transport of our 
army across the river. I gave my orders and set at the 
front of each scow, piled high with wet straw and ma¬ 
nure, a gunner ready to each pile with his linstock 
lighted. When the Saxons were well away from the bank 
of the river and busy at that, we put off in our scows and 
were well halfway across the stream ere they caught our 
device. Back they came then pell-mell, but no sooner had 
they turned than we set fire to the straw in our scows 
and the thick, white, and sulphur-yellow smoke piled up 
before us like thunder-clouds. At first it was well nigh 
unbearable to us in the boats, for even their slow motion 
rolled it back into our faces; but in a few minutes the 
light air coming from the east sent it slowly along the 
surface of the water and up the other bank. The river 
was one mass of smoke, and not a Saxon gunner or 
musketeer but must fire at random, for not a boat could 
he see. Nor could we see either, any more than at 
Narva, but we had the less need for we sought nothing 
109 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

but a landing, and as yet stood not to our arms. Thus 
we had a foot-hold on the bank, and the Saxons knew 
not when nor where. The instant we came to the bank 
we let down as gangplanks the upright wooden shields 
which had been intended to protect us from the Saxon 
bullets. 

The King was among the first to set foot to ground. I 
landed close to him from the boat I was in. He clapped 
his hand upon my shoulder, and though he was cough¬ 
ing with the smoke that still hung on the river-bank, he 
commended my snowstorm, and in truth it went far to 
win us the battle. 

Then he turned toward the boats from which the men 
were pouring. “Hurrah, my boys,” he cried, “here we 
are at last, and God is sure to help us.” 

Therewith he took the lead of us drabants, mounted 
upon his gray horse, and rushed headlong on the batter¬ 
ies and breastworks scarce waiting for the rest of us 
to form and follow. 

But before I go on with the fight I must relate one 
result of my snowstorm that we did not foresee. Even 
before the smoke went forward on the wind, we heard 
much shouting and jesting from boats near the one I 
was in. When the air cleared we saw wherefrom it rose. 
One of the boats had caught fire from the straw in her 
bow, and it was comical to see the frantic efforts of the 
men to pitch the burning straw overboard with their 
bayonets, and quench the fire with water bailed in their 
hats. From the next boat beyond came many scoffs and 
jests: that they should bore holes in the bottom to let 
the water in and quench the fire, that they should spit 


no 


A BLOODY ATTACK 

on it, and such-like foolery. But even as these men were 
scoffing they paid more heed to the other boat than to 
their own, which was burning merrily behind their backs. 
We who saw it would not for the sake of the jest warn 
them of the fire, and by the time they felt it scorching 
their rumps, it was too late for them to do aught but to 
jump into the river, which they did amid the jeers and 
laughter of those whom they had been ridiculing a mo¬ 
ment before. I think that not above five or six of them 
were drowned. 

Steinau lost not a moment, but fell with the full 
shock of his horses upon our first line rapidly come 
ashore. Swedish soldiers and Saxon horsemen floun¬ 
dered together in the river, amid the blinding smoke, up 
to the waists of the men and bellies of the horses. Bright 
amid the smoke shone the flashing steel of Charles’s 
raised sword leading us on to the charge. Slowly the 
boys in blue forced their way to the banks, ’mid the 
floating bodies of the dead, while the astonished Saxon 
horsemen withdrew to rally in a dry spot, situated be¬ 
tween a wood and a swamp and protected by their 
artillery. 

Rude and bloody turned the Swedish attack, our men 
following into the thickest of the enemy’s foot, making 
with the clubs of their muskets a most dreadful slaughter. 
Twice the Duke of Courland, in leading the enemy, had 
his horse shot from under him, and thrice he penetrated 
to the midst of the royal guardsmen. At last, rendered 
well-nigh insensible by a musketeer pounding upon his 
unprotected head with the butt of his musket, the duke 
fell upon the ground, extremely overlaid, and his cuiras- 


III 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


siers disentangled themselves with difficulty from the 
Swedish foot, dragging their leader with them in their 
precipitate flight. I would also here recount that some 
among the dexterous Saxon officers rallied repeatedly 
their scattered men, and pierced me some troops with 
those regiments; but after our repeated charges made 
upon them, they also were broken with the rest. 

Before three hours were spent, Charles once more was 
victor. In the twelve short months he had humbled the 
powers of Denmark, Russia, and Saxony. Before us lay 
Poland, the royal republic Augustus had so constantly 
been urging to join in the war against Sweden. 

Upon this occasion I will say that I got two pairs of 
pistols, a bundle of officer’s linen, and lace, and a small 
fardel, containing several pieces of plate, and in a small 
cup two rings, as well as a fine cane. 

Full joyous were we that our Charles had answered 
Louis’s incessant and troublesome ambassador that 

he had from one time to another been led to understand that 
the King of Poland was desirous of peace by the good offices 
of France. But that he had not wished to listen to it, as 
Augustus who had once so shamefully deceived us, could not 
find in us any belief. We regarded his word as faithless, pur¬ 
posing cunning malice and fraud, and it would detract from 
our glory if we should come to agreement with one who had so 
treacherously dishonored himself in regard to both treaty and 
covenant. 

So we turned to Poland — Poland, whose friendship 
and connivance we needed, to chastise still further the 
great allies confronting us. In the days we were now to 
pass through, our young King was to receive his great 
schooling in all the arts of war and the science of military 


112 


THE CONDITION OF POLAND 


leadership. With a king in Poland that suited his own 
fancy, Charles dared dream of crushing the great Mus¬ 
covite Tsar. Mayhap a new Sobieski might rise. Au¬ 
gustus would ever prove too malicious and false for a 
trusted ally. Surely Swedeland could never return to 
Poland the newly conquered Courland, but from an 
humbled Muscovy, Poland could be more than gener¬ 
ously repaid. Augustus must be punished. Was not our 
young King the agent of Divine justice — an avenger 
created for the chastisement of him who doeth evil? 
And were not the sacredness of his own word and the 
unlimited fidelity of his subjects the very corner-stones 
of human society? 

Unfortunate indeed was Poland’s geographical posi¬ 
tion and still more hopeless was her government. The 
Poles themselves scarce knew where the borders of their 
country began or ended. Neither mountains nor rivers 
bounded her provinces, nor strong men governed her 
wild and scattered hordes. Even the wild horses upon 
the steppes of Muscovy wheel and change their course 
by the neigh of their leader; but as for the Polish 
nobles, they tore at the very heart of their mother 
country, each ravenous for his own gain and profit. To 
gather them in under the protection of our own glorious 
banners was indeed like gathering the chaff after the 
scattering of the harvest winds. Confusion was not only 
tolerated, but the nobles seemed as it were, to our 
stranger eyes, to believe it necessary for the very sup¬ 
port of what they termed their constitution in con¬ 
formity with their national proverb, “ Poland subsists 
by Anarchy.” 

113 





CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


Alas for themselves and their own country — they 
could not with benefit or profit, as the House of Haps- 
burg, “Divide et impera,” when so many rulers took the 
place of one. And to hasten their inevitable destruction, 
the European conflict all around them was slowly but 
surely forging strong and united neighbors. Branden- 
burg-Prussia was cunningly aided by fortune, arriving 
at its unswerving purpose of becoming the great power 
of northern Germany — perhaps, in days to come, a 
great nation in Europe and the world. And here is the 
place for me to repeat the old adage I have heard which 
runs: — 

Clarum regnum Polonorum 
Est coelum Nobilitorum 
Paradisus Judeorum 
. Et infernus rusticorum . 1 

As in the days of our King Charles XI, of blessed 
memory, William of Orange, Sir William Temple, and 
the great Elector of Brandenburg had stood against 
King Louis of France, so now Prince Eugene, John 
of Marlborough, and the Grand Pensionary Heinsius 
united against him. All six harbored hatreds against 
His Catholic Majesty for insults offered them, and 
the haughty monarch was secretly to rue his indis¬ 
cretions. 

Along the Rhine and in the Netherlands, camp-fires 
were now once more to be lit as we led the Swedish down 
through Samogotia and Lithuania. To gain still further 
support, the allies bound Hanover and Brandenburg 

1 Poland’s lustrous kingdom is a heaven for the noblemen, a paradise 
for the Jews, and a hell for tfie peasants. 


EMPEROR LEOPOLD 


to them, the Papist councillors of the Emperor scru¬ 
pling not to bestow honor upon these two heretical 
powers. For upon the House of Brandenburg was be¬ 
stowed the long-coveted royal power, whereas the Duke 
of Hanover was created the ninth Elector of the Holy 
Roman Empire. And as the heretical powers of Eng¬ 
land and Holland were to provide moneys, so Prussia 
and Hanover were to provide well-drilled mercenaries 
“for all times to come.” 

The great War of the Spanish Succession had at last 
broken out. Suddenly through the chancelleries of Eu¬ 
rope, to the consternation and despair of France, the 
news was spread of our glorious alliance with England 
and Holland and the new kingdom of Prussia. Great 
quantities of warm clothes and saltpetre were by Marl¬ 
borough’s orders to be supplied to our troops through 
the harbors of our Baltic provinces. 

Austria, twice defended during the last century against 
the furious onslaughts of the infidels, whose hordes 
reached the very gates of Vienna, was now once more 
profiting by the gallant victories of her great Savoyan 
general. Full much had I heard of Emperor Leopold, 
now so near his end. Indeed he was not like any of the 
monarchs I had seen. All the splendor that surrounded 
him could not make up for the wolfishly protruding 
eye-teeth impeding his very speech. His long black 
beard and scented periwig, his languid gait and clothes 
of the Spanish cut, the dangling plumes of his hat and 
reddish hose, made indeed a strange impression upon my 
youthful years. While our state business went through 
the hands of his accursed Jesuit advisers, the Emperor 
115 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

strangely preferred to occupy himself with his music and 
cards and strange curiosities or the pleasures of the 
chase, leaving his lands to be directed by the occult 
policy and crime of the black priests and Camarilla. 

Long had divided Poland felt the smart 
Of vast intrigues and politician’s art. 


CHAPTER VIII 

THE ADVANCE AGAINST AUGUSTUS 

But I am digressing from my subject and riding far 
afield from the plains of Poland, into which we were now 
to penetrate and which we were to cross and recross 
and cross again, ever victorious whatever might be the 
odds against us, until the very name of Sweden was to 
strike terror in the hearts of our enemies. Whatever 
were our losses, our Polish campaigns were to become a 
glad sport for our young monarch, in which he was to 
divert himself with many a pleasant and friendly field 
promenade, in which we would rout out our opponents. 
At times, while we lay in camp, our days would be 
those of lazy dogs until something lively once more 
broke cover; but more often did His Gracious Majesty 
make war in so pleasant a manner as made all the world 
fond of fighting under his conduct and royal standard. 

The whole manner of thought and social habits of the 
Poles were in truth so at variance with ours that they 
could never come to an understanding with our King 
or our country. For an irresponsible state with citizens 
accountable to no one, it was well-nigh impossible to 
deal with, or come to any agreement with, an or¬ 
ganized military force such as ours. Our Charles de¬ 
manded other guaranties of peace than excuses, based 
on their confused laws. But whom to deal with? That 
was the question. This great republic of nobles divided 
117 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

into many provinces and innumerable independent 
principalities, all misruled and disunified, was open to 
every enemy within and without, and closed to every 
friendly outside interposition. These countless nobles, 
of smaller or greater powers, headed by the great of¬ 
ficers of state, the Cardinal-Primate, and, at the head 
of all, the selfish scheming Saxon, who had bought the 
crown, drifted practically without government. The 
nobility, numbering full more than a million, or a third 
of the population of our own dear country and its prov¬ 
inces, misrepresented the farcical political state. To us 
Swedes it seemed as if the lawless liberty of the indi¬ 
vidual, so different from what was found in all other 
European countries, became so great that indeed it 
swallowed up the rights of the community at large. 

In the earliest days of our glorious Vasa kings, — 
yes, long before them, — this kingdom of Poland had 
been firmly ruled by mighty monarchs, one destined to 
sit on both of our thrones. But with the death of Sigis- 
mund Augustus those days passed, and the realm which 
had stretched from the Baltic to the Dniester and from 
the heart of Prussia to within a hundred and fifty miles 
of Moskowa’s walls, shrank betimes into impotence and 
insignificance. That most blessed faith of the Reforma¬ 
tion, which had spread so rapidly throughout all por¬ 
tions of this great realm, was to be undermined and 
persecuted by the accursed Jesuits. All the institutions 
blessing other states, such as the increase in the royal 
power and prerogatives, freedom of thought, and the 
growth and prosperity of trading, were not to be found 
in this distraught and sundered Polish land. Merchants 
118 


A PERNICIOUS OLIGARCHY 

and laborers were all Jews, while the chamber of the 
chief nobles and that of the nuncios were ever to as¬ 
semble for brawl and quarrel instead of peaceable legis¬ 
lation. A pernicious oligarchy in the eyes of our wise 
Piper! And to the rest of us the most inefficient govern¬ 
ment for a great state, of which we had ever heard 
mention . 1 

1 The Polish Republic (as this country of nobles, sprung from the dis¬ 
solution of a dual monarchy, was styled, in its own laws and international 
documents) bore much resemblance to the German state. In both of these 
almost decrepit social systems there existed, under an elective head with 
extensive real powers, an endless subdivision of all public posts, among 
a multitude of officials who cared little for their duties to the public. In 
Germany, however, the more powerful of these usurpers, under favoring 
circumstances, had been able to develop into princes with firmly estab¬ 
lished hereditary authority over larger or smaller territories, which were 
thus formed into states with a regular government, while the constitution 
of the country was reduced to an empty form. The Polish and Lithuanian 
magnates cherished the same aspirations; but before they had reached 
the same stage, the fulfillment was arrested by other powerful internal and 
external influences. In the meantime, the houses of Sapieha, Radziwill, 
Wisniowiecki, Potocki, and several others, had gained a position which to 
a certain extent might be compared to that of the German princely houses, 
before they had consolidated their territories through the introduction of 
primogeniture and the transformation of nobles liable to service into sub¬ 
jects in a political sense. Polish magnates were more than mere proprie¬ 
tors of noble birth and enormous wealth. They held brilliant courts in 
their castles, with retinues of poorer noblemen who waited on their tables, 
managed their estates and supported their policy with votes or arms as 
was needed. They had their own regiments of Cossacks, Wallachians or 
German mercenaries; they built fortresses and provided themselves with 
cannons. The Republic, like the Holy Roman Empire, was fairly on the 
way to become “a conglomerate of smaller principalities.” The sovereign 
noble “people” (the great body of the serfs was designated by another 
coarser epithet) exercised their rights less in the Parliaments than at the 
Diets. In so far the Republic had the appearance of a union or confederacy, 
to use modern terms, which are little appropriate. Officially they always 
spoke of a “union” between the two “lands,” or “nations”: the mon¬ 
archy Poland, or the “Crown,” and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Be¬ 
tween them were various dissimilarities in laws and administration, but in 
international respects there was little difference. The Kingdom was said 
to consist of two “provinces” — Great Poland (in the north) and Little 
Poland (in the south). — H. Hjarne: Karl XII , pp. 119-122. 

119 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

How to grapple with our enemy in his high office of 
Elector of Saxony, and not as King of Poland, was no 
easy task. We were not warring with Poland, but must 
attempt to enter that territory without bringing the 
hornets’ nest of nobles about our ears. Against the will 
and constitution of his Polish subjects had Augustus 
done us mighty harm and commenced his treacherous 
inroads into our Livonian province. 

The rivalry of the two great families of the Sapieha 
and the Oginski, dividing the supremacy of Lithuania, 
came to the solution of the vexed question, and full 
quickly did Charles espouse the cause of the noble 
Sapiehas, announcing by courier the good reason of his 
bold advance to the Cardinal-Primate and such rulers 
as could be found. Nor did our gallant King omit to 
mention the necessity of electing a new king who might 
be more trusted as a good neighbor. Not alone had 
Augustus broken his oath to the Republic, but he had 
trodden under foot its liberties. It was thus in the 
interests of the Most Serene Republic to elect another 
king as soon as possible. 

Forward marched our armies, deep into Courland, 
through Brauske, Grobin, and to the castle of Wiirgen, 
while Mittau surrendered to Morner. On the new year’s 
snow we broke up from Goldingen and passed into 
Poland, encamping at last at Biolowice, after marching 
up to our waists in mud and icy water. As we pitched 
our tents, the frozen water in our cloaks made them as 
stiff and brittle as the bark of a white birch. 1 

1 6000 oxen, 60,000 barrels of beer, 1000 kegs of corn brandy, and 60,000 
kegs of fish were sent over by the Swedish government for the consumption 
of the army. 


120 


A CHASTE MONARCH 


Full often have I been questioned by idle busy bodies 
whether His Majesty had not, during the many years 
in which I had followed and perforce observed him, 
yielded to the charms of some woman. But I have given 
short shrift to such fool prattle: as Satan has filled the 
hearts and thoughts of some of us, aye, and the greatest 
too, with the constant lust after woman’s flesh, so in 
others the Highest God seems to have obliterated, as it 
were, these base desires, and the softest lips and warm¬ 
est seductions prevail not in inflaming their imagination. 
Through all his stormy youth and early manhood, our 
Gracious King did never to my knowledge violate those 
vows of chastity which he gave as a lad in the Stock¬ 
holm chapel before receiving his first Holy Communion. 
Never have I seen a man over whom woman had less in¬ 
fluence. He would close his eyes in sleep on the shoulder 
of the poorest companion-in-arms, but never upon the 
bosom of a woman however beautiful. The sweetness of 
her caresses, the soft yielding of her form, the intoxicat¬ 
ing perfume of her close breath, entered not into the 
world of adventure he was destined to seek. Never 
once did he alter his course or delay his intended actions 
for a woman’s sake. Seldom did she even, with the 
exception of those in his own royal household, enter his 
thoughts. His dogs were far dearer to his heart, and 
with his horses no woman could bear comparison. 

Now this exclusion in her world-dominion was un¬ 
known to the amorous Augustus. He judged rather from 
his own enslaved life of the influence and havoc of 
women. His army being scattered after the battle of the 
Dima, not stopping their flight until within the borders 
121 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

of his own Electorate, Augustus was hard pressed. From 
Peter there was scant hope of speedy assistance, and, 
like a true German, he was more willing to be saved 
than to save himself. So he bethought himself of send¬ 
ing the loveliest of graces, the mother of two of his own 
three hundred and sixty-five children, 1 the gifted Count¬ 
ess Aurora von Konigsmarck, to employ her charms 
in bringing about peace and inducing King Charles to 
advance no farther into Poland. No fairer ambas¬ 
sadress ever went upon diplomatic errand, or through 
wiles might feel surer of victory. No minister was as 
capable of success. Of a great and powerful family, 
of noble Swedish birth, she sought our camp under 

1 The child later to be known as the famous Marechal de Saxe was then 
but a boy of eight. At the age of fourteen he is described as follows: — 

“Portrait of a certain ‘Seigneur’ 

“ Represent to yourself a seigneur 14 years old, large and strong and well- 
grown, with lively eyes, beautiful hair and passable manners. Eagerly 
fond of all kinds of animals and especially of hunting. Extremely taken 
up by his pleasures, for which he conceives an inexpressible ‘tendresse,’ 
incapable of leaving them without tears in the eyes, well fitted for all 
bodily exercises in which he shows more strength than address or discern¬ 
ment. — To be unable at his age either to write or to read is a very serious 
‘factum,’ and taken the qualities of mind which he for several years had 
shown, he would probably make but slow progress in these matters in the 
future. He is so full of life and mischief, he can hardly stay still in bed. 
When he wakes up, he is dressed; but as soon as he considers that now 
must he study, he does everything that lies in his power to delay that 
fatal moment. To bring this about he has a thousand ‘ rares secrets ,’ which 
all are conceived in his imagination; if he is shown upon a table, books, 
paper and the attirail funeste of studies, he is transformed to a powerless, 
immovable crushed body, who can utter no word for the advancement 
of science; he merely yawns, spits twenty times in succession, and if 
there then remains anything of his voice, he employs it to ask questions 
of his body-servant or call for the lackey. Finally the hour strikes, and 
he finds himself closeted with his PrScepteur; thereupon he is seized by 
complete lethargy; there merely remains of him unjeune homme fiambe , 
who laments the inexorable fate of human beings, who must be bereft 
of so many hours, which might otherwise be hallowed to pleasure.” 


122 


THE FAIR AMBASSADRESS 

the specious pretence of obtaining the pardon of her 
brother-in-law, Count Charles Lewenhaupt, who, de¬ 
spite the letters of recall to Sweden, had remained in 
the service of King Augustus after the outbreak of 
hostilities. 

How shall a poor soldier’s pen describe one who at 
this time was the toast of all Europe? Though the grace 
of her body and the beauty of her face were extraordi¬ 
nary, they were still inferior to the brilliancy of her soul. 
Everything in her seemed in the greatest harmony. 
The color upon her cheeks and the shining of her eyes 
were still, in this her thirtieth year, as those of a beauty 
of twenty. Her thick black hair lay in waves around the 
oval face. Her forehead was high and of a lofty calm. 
The delicate curve of her dark eyebrows would have 
inspired poets. Arrows, which none had been able to 
resist, were darted from her black eyes, fiery and radiant. 
Even the nose was a masterpiece of the Creator. The 
mouth was small, the lips like blood, the teeth white and 
regular. Her bosom was high, her waist was slender. 
In one word, all about her must call forth admiration 
and desire in the least impassioned of men. And in this 
fair casket was the mind no less fair a jewel. Her rich 
and cultivated genius had captivated many of the most 
brilliant men of Europe. Equally well could she banter 
or argue in the Swedish, Latin, French, German, or 
Italian tongue. By her talent for painting, song, music, 
and the art of poetry, as well as her sound scientific 
attainments, did she charm whoever discoursed with 
her, whether amidst her nuns at Quedlinburg, or under 
the flashing crystals of the court chandeliers. She flamed 
123 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

like a very meteor down among the tents of the Swedish 
camp. 

The fair ambassadress was not unknown to our King, 
for already four years earlier had she sent him of her 
verses. Moreover “ Madame Fama,” as a writer of the 
time declared, “had had much to say about her own and 
her brother's sad and strange fortunes.” By virtue of 
her elevated position as well as through her noble con¬ 
nections, she was, shortly after her long and dangerous 
voyage, received with honor by Piper as well as others of 
the great statesmen and soldiers in our camp. Having 
completely charmed them by the complaisance of her 
manner, as well as her honest desire to avert a great and 
unnecessary conflict, she begged to be taken to the 
King’s lodgings for an audience. Great was her surprise 
and chagrin when she learned of the mean tent in which 
the royal lad was quartered, with boards next the 
ground and thatched on top and scarcely tempered 
from the frightful cold without by a pile of red-hot 
cannon-balls. 

Unable to reach the King, who positively denied her 
audience, Aurora thereupon sent him the following 
epigram: — 

A la table des dieux, Mercure louait fort 

Le jeune monarque du Nord 

En parlant des h6ros qui regnent sur la terre; 

Mars surtout vantait les lauriers 
Qu’il a remportes 4 la guerre; 

Mais Jupiter fut des premiers 
A faire remarquer sa bont£, sa cl6mence, 

Sa pi£t£, sa temperance, 

Si rare parmi les guerriers; 

Minerve applaudissait sans -cesse 

I24 


CHARLES IS OBDURATE 


A sa prudence, k sa sagesse; 

Ce roi-l&, dit Momus, ne sera pas un sot! 

Enfin chacun des dieux, discourant k sa gloire, 

Le placait par avance au temple de Memoire. 

Mais V6nus et Bacchus n’en dirent pas un mot. 

These flattering lines bringing no response from his 
stony heart, the countess contrived, through her win¬ 
some ways and by granting minor favors, to have placed 
in the tent of our monarch, while he was busily engaged 
in inspecting the various quarters of the army, a minia¬ 
ture well portraying her exquisite features. Silent as 
a Carthusian, Charles handed the ivory to the page 
Klinckowstrom for his delectation. It was but a few 
days afterwards that Aurora gave Piper the follow¬ 
ing for our master, with all manner of promises and 
gifts, begging him to hand it to the King, and this 
he did: — 

Charles, votre Constance, a qui tout est possible, 

Vient d’achever mille faits inouis; 

Pour vous ravir le nom de guerrier invincible, 

. Mille pro jets se sont 4vanouis. 

Mais d’ou vient, jeune roi, qu’avec tant de m6rite 
Vous avez peu de vrai bonheur? 

Partout, environn6 d’honneur, 

Aucun plaisir ne marche k votre suite! 

Cert£s, votre bel ceil, votre taille divine, 

Merite un prix plus doux et plus charmant. 

Pardonnez mon audace, en secret je devine 
Qu’un bel h£ros soit devenir amant. 

S’il est une beaut£ qui peut par tendresse 
Charmer le plus grand des mortels, 

Nous lui dressons des autels, 

Ouvrez les bras, recevez la dSesse! 

But Charles remained obdurate as adamant. Even 
a goddess should not fold him in her arms. 

Though Rehnskold perchance was more gallant, he 

125 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

proved himself no more successful in procuring for her 
the desired interview. Taking matters into her own 
hands, the countess decided to waylay the King. To 
this effect she stationed her equipage upon the road by 
which the King must perforce return to camp, and 
awaited his coming, in her most seductive toilet. The 
monarch, upon perceiving her, struck his spurs deep into 
the flanks of his horse and rode at full gallop past 
countess, equipage, servants and all, as if he were lead¬ 
ing his drabants into battle. But his hand grasped his 
hat instead of his glittering sword, and in passing her 
he made a deep reverenzia . 

Defeated at last, the fair Aurora wrote to her former 
Saxon lover: — 

Je l’ai vu ce heros, que tout le monde admire 
Et je conviens que c’est un demi-dieu; 

Honneurs, gloire, vertus, le respect qu’il inspire, 

Pour en douter ne laissent aucun lieu; 

La victoire le prouve, et le gloire l’atteste, 

Mais parmi des exploits si beaux 

Apres tant de fameux travaux 

Vit-on jamais un vainqueur plus modeste? 

Consolez-vous, Auguste, et plaignez moins vos pertes, 

Charles de Suede est un roi vertueux; 

II ne triomphe pas de vos peines secretes, 

En conquerant d’un orgueil fastueux, 

Vous vaincrez son grand cceur, en vous vainquant vous-meme. 
Quittez votre animosite 
Loin d’ici fausse vanit6! 

Son amitie vaut plus qu’un diademe. 

Thus Charles had by his constancy and virtue won 
another battle over his Polish Majesty, greater in the 
eyes of his good field-confessor than the victory of the 
Diina. And that his soldiers should no more be similarly 

126 


COUNT FLEMING’S F&TE 

tempted by lesser graces, the King issued the stern com¬ 
mand to have driven away out into the snows the great 
number of lewd women, who had slipped in among the 
troops and introduced libertinism and disorder; and be¬ 
fore they reluctantly took their departure, they were 
collected in a great wailing mob and compelled to fall 
upon their knees and listen to a long Protestant sermon, 
while their penitent lovers, with uncovered heads, stood 
sighing all about them. 

There were to be no regiments of rags, nor in fact any 
women in the camp but such as were known to the 
provosts as the wives of the soldiers, who were neces¬ 
sary for washing linen and dressing victuals. 

In order to draw a comparison, I cannot here refrain 
from digressing. I would point out how different from 
the Spartan self-denial of my hero was the life of his 
adversary, his Polish Majesty. 

Some years later than Aurora's visit to our camp, I 
had a particular opportunity at which to see things, 
when I was present at the fine fete which Count Flem¬ 
ing gave in honor of Augustus, and therefore am I the 
forwarder to relate them. His Polish Majesty ordered 
six whole regiments to march into the fields outside of 
Dresden. On the heights were planted cannon, and 
everything was so arranged that the King and his court 
might witness the play as it were a genuine engagement. 
They wheeled and attacked and retreated; all their 
movements in short were something terribly merry, as 
no one thereby came to harm. The King as well as the 
Countess Donhof and the Lithuanian General Potzki’s 
wife, both of whom were dressed lightly as amazons, as 
127 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

well as a great throng of gentlemen, showed themselves 
to horse. The other ladies were in equipages drawn by 
six horses. 

After the combat had ended, the King Augustus 
seated himself at a table under a great tent, accom¬ 
panied by the finest ladies and gentlemen. Two more 
tables were decked in other tents for the other cavaliers 
and strangers. During the meal the music of the can¬ 
nons, the trumpets, and the drums was heard at pleas¬ 
ing intervals. A jolly play began after the meal was 
ended. The tables were not taken away, but the soldiers 
who had done best were allowed to fall upon the remains 
of the feast, while the King and his noble party looked on. 
In the bread Count Fleming had ordered that a thou¬ 
sand hard gulden should be hidden. The trumpets 
blew as to storming, and the meritorious soldiers stand¬ 
ing in battle column fell upon the loaves and what was 
left on the table in one great fighting cursing mob. Great 
was the ensuing delight and pleasure of the Court. 
Thereupon everything was cleared away, and the in¬ 
jured soldiers were carried off amidst much mirth and 
laughter, and dancing went on until seven. Count 
Fleming thereby emptied so many glasses to the health 
of his guests that he fell over quite drunken. 

The King also seemed no longer sober, although he 
showed no conduct unsuitable to his majesty. I noticed 
howbeit the martyrdom of a certain chamberlain who 
was then on duty. He stood for a long time behind the 
royal chair with a glass of water, but was so weak in his 
knees and shaking on his feet that he swayed as a ship 
at sea, imperilling with each movement the contents of 
128 


THE TURKISH SLAVE 


his glass. Count Fleming, managing to rise, was beside 
himself with joy. As the King would leave, he fell famil¬ 
iarly upon his neck. “ Brother,” he said, “ I renounce my 
friendship for you, if you leave.” The Countess of 
Donhof did, however, her best to protect her royal lover 
from such indecencies. But Fleming was far too happy 
to satisfy himself with being thus thrust aside — he de¬ 
sired to enfold the countess ^within his loving arms. 

“You little w-”, he said, “you are surely a good 

little w-.” To such compliments the countess was 

well accustomed, whenever Count Fleming was suf¬ 
ficiently drunk. She therefore answered with loud 
laughter and merely endeavored to keep him away from 
the King. 

During the return both the King and the Countess 
of Donhof fell off their horses; but chamberlains and 
lackeys were soon busied scraping the dirt and muck 
from off their fine clothes. Praised be God, they took no 
harm! 

Again, and no less apt to point the contrast, there is 
the quaint story of the fair Turkish slave Fatima. She 
was one of four received as booty by Alexander Erskin, 
the others named Roosia, Eisia, and Emine, and all said 
to be of great beauty after the oriental fashion, which I 
have no gusto for myself, though I saw somewhat of 
it in our evil days. But of the four that I speak, they 
were taken in the year 1686, when the imperial troops 
entered Ofen, and Fatima was given by her new master 
to the Countess Aurora. She, indeed, like a girl with a 
new doll, — for I will think it done more in sport than 
sober Christian zeal, — must needs have her heathen 
129 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


slave-girl (to her everlasting welfare) baptized into the 
Christian church. To the German church in Stockholm 
we all flocked, not knights and nobles alone, but royalty 
no less, for there were Queen Ulrica Eleanore, Princess 
Hedvig Sophia, and Charles himself, then the young 
Prince, who, in company with the greatest nobles of the 
realm stood godfather, and seven noblewomen god¬ 
mothers. Thus to the eminent satisfaction of the 
Countess Aurora, and to the blessing of the dazed 
Fatima, the much-admired slave became a Christian 
by the name of her godmother, Maria Aurora. Such 
was the only link, and a wry one, between the Countess 
and my royal master when she came to him in our camp, 
that he and she had stood together in the Temple of the 
Lord, and pledged themselves to watch over the Chris¬ 
tian education of a Turkish slave whom men called 
beautiful. And if the education she received at the hands 
of the Countess and Augustus be called Christian she 
might better have been left to heathen manners. For 
King Augustus one day, leaving the couch of the god¬ 
mother, came upon the slave in the anteroom in such 
trim as further to arouse the appetite which in him there 
was no sating, and no little to the renown (at the time) 
of this remarkable monarch, he left in the same day both 
the mistress and the slave with child. 

But to return. Though Charles cared but little for 
women, whether their virtue were unto them as a 
precious jewel or merely an article of trade, his heart 
beat warmly for his dogs, with whom he preferred to 
share his simple soldier’s bed. Thus he now writes to 
his royal sister: — 


130 


DIFFICULTIES OF DIPLOMACY 


Pompey and Sniffaround tender their dutiful services to 
Madame Mignon. Their portraits I intended to send by the 
Prince of Saxony, but in the haste they were left behind us at 
Wiirgen. However, I shall try to procure them. Otherwise, I 
have had a great misfortune, for Caesar has quite suddenly 
died in this foreign land, so that of his kind now only Turk is 
alive. I am glad the lady-in-waiting now at last has suc¬ 
ceeded in the consummation of her marriage. That my sister 
will take unto her the Child of Nuniers, is also very pleasing 
to me. I beg pardon if I this time have detained my dear 
heart too long. 

My sister’s humble true brother and servant, 

Carolus. 

Amen. 

And now that interminable correspondence between 
our King and the Polish Republic was well under way, 
and the endless succession of conferences, deputations, 
and diets was about to begin. Strange though it may 
seem, our country as well as Saxony was at peace with 
Poland and remained so through the many months dur¬ 
ing which the sad necessities of war caused us to burn 
and pillage and ravage the Polish lands. It taxed in¬ 
deed the wise Piper to his utmost, as well as the secre¬ 
tary, Hermelin, who had been called to our chancellery 
from his chair of History. Through his wise insight, 
statesmanship, and most excellent mastery of the Latin 
of diplomacy, he was to prove himself, yea, even a 
match for the crafty old Cardinal-Primate of Poland. 

It certainly was no easy matter for King Charles to 
decide from his camp the many troublous affairs pertain¬ 
ing to the government of Sweden and its provinces, as 
well as direct the entire course of our military pro¬ 
ceedings. Sorely tired in body and mind were Swedish 
131 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

couriers for years to come, shuttling across Europe in 
order to bring King Charles’s orders and decisions back 
and forward to the despairing and powerless councillors 
in Stockholm. Their duty was clearly to provide men 
and money; beyond that they were but to listen to the 
royal orders and good pleasure. Alas, they were often 
difficult to decipher, for the ink-horn would ofttimes be 
upset over the order, and as the horses were waiting, 
the page became blotted and well-nigh illegible. But the 
contents, so constantly written by his own hand, were 
full clear and to the point, whether in his own dear 
Swedish tongue with its ringing words and fresh ex¬ 
pressions, or even merry jests in lighter vein, or whether 
by force of necessity written in the German or Latin. 

Wise old Bengt Oxenstjerna, who for so many years 
had been our greatest statesman, no longer daring to 
write the King personally, was, however, constantly 
putting fleas in his ear. He would write lengthily to 
Piper or Hermelin or the others nearest the King and 
pour out his experienced heart in all matters of policy 
affecting our Swedish state. Now before his death, in 
his eightieth year, he sent us to camp, as it were, his last 
will and testament, begging Sweden send her troops to 
aid the naval powers and desist from further progress in 
Poland. We should, he prayed, reef our sails until the 
great storm in Europe had passed. But Charles heeded 
this no more than does the wind the dead leaves of 
autumn. 

Like unto two skilful fencers, feinting, thrusting, and 
parrying, so did Charles and the Cardinal-Primate move 
through their diplomatic negotiations as to the unhappy 

132 


THE CARDINAL-PRIMATE 

throne of Poland. The Cardinal Michael Etienne Rad- 
ziejowski was surely one of the most remarkable per¬ 
sonages of his day. He was a son of the traitor to his 
country, Hieronymus Radziejowski. By virtue of his 
high position, as well as the rare qualities of his mind, 
his influence was mighty. But even to the fox could he 
have taught a useful lesson in cunning. He was a great 
statesman — rich, learned, and brave; artful, intriguing, 
and imperious. He had long played, with burning zeal, 
the most important part in the many strifes of his 
divided country. His untrustworthiness made him even 
more dangerous as friend than as foe, the more espe¬ 
cially when the gold jingled sweetly in his ears. The great 
King Jean Sobieski had made him Bishop of Varmia, but 
that was long ago, and he now was Archbishop of 
Gnesen as well as Primate of the Kingdom and Presi¬ 
dent of the Diet. At his arrival in the Senate, I have seen 
him preceded by a proud prelate on horseback, carry¬ 
ing before him a cross of gold which the same prelate 
holds loftily behind his throne as he seats himself be¬ 
side the King; and at his exit a senator once more goes 
before his equipage, while the Cardinal holds the staff in 
his hand, kissing it for no one excepting the King. The 
King receives him in the antechamber, and unto the 
Papal Nuncio alone does he render visit. A proud and 
mighty man indeed, meet to cope with our Charles! 

Great had been his rage when Augustus, after the 
election of the Prince of Conti, bought the throne; for 
Radziejowski had been deep in the counsels of France and 
his pockets were bulging with Louis’s gold, seeing that 
he could not place Jacques Sobieski in his father’s seat. 
133 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

Madame la Cardinalesse, as we called his sweet dove, 
had however now brought about a reconciliation be¬ 
tween her lover and Augustus — and he was once more 
craftily awaiting the developments brought about by 
Sweden. Now, mayhap, he believed the time had come 
once more to open a road along which Jacques Sobieski 
might move to seize the throne, and he himself govern 
it absolutely. 

Before admitting the Polish ambassadors to an au¬ 
dience, Charles had catechized irreligious soldiers in 
the Lutheran Church, the officers listening attentively, 
whereupon the entire infantry received Holy Commu¬ 
nion before being dismissed for drill in the great enclosure 
of the churchyard. His soldiers being thus spiritually 
edified and thereafter set to their duties, Charles entered 
his tent in order to give the promised audience. 

There had been much difficulty in arranging this as 
demanded by the Polish ambassadors, for they had 
deemed, necessary that the Republic be given the title 
of “ Most Serene ”; that the King send his equipage with 
some of his senators to fetch them; that the King’s guard 
upon their arrival in camp should present arms, the 
standards be unfolded and drums beaten; that the two 
ambassadors, clothed with the authority of the Senate, 
should be admitted covered before the King; and that 
it should be permitted them to remain seated after three 
deep reverences. To these conditions our King had an¬ 
swered that Sweden had never given the Republic 
other title than “ Illustrious” except during the vacancy 
of the throne; that he had no equipage with him in his 
campaigns; that the only senator he had with him 
134 


THE POLISH AMBASSADORS 


would have to stay by his person; but that he would de¬ 
spatch for their escort a lieutenant-general. As they 
were all sent unto him in quality of ambassadors, they 
might, for all he cared, remain covered. 

General Lieven now introduced the splendid retinue, 
consisting of more than five hundred nobles, more gor¬ 
geously arrayed than birds of paradise. General Posse re¬ 
ceived them before the great tent, erected for this grand 
occasion, the lovely blue and yellow silks of our banners 
fluttering the while in the spring breeze and the drums 
and trumpets sounding their joyous notes. Charles was 
seated, wearing the costume he loved so well and which 
he never varied, except to renew when the old garments 
were worn out. There was the long blue jacket, its 
brass buttons closing high up to the simple neck-cloth, 
breeches of buckskin in the long riding-boots with their 
huge spurs, and the simple upturned hat with gal¬ 
loons scarce fit for the rank of a corporal. One of his 
long doeskin-cuffed gloves grasped the hilt of his huge 
sword. Around him sat Piper and his generals. 

Hardly could the senators conceal their astonishment, 
for not one owned to lackey or stable-boy more simply 
dressed. 

At their first reverence, His Majesty uncovered; at 
the second, he rose; but when, at the third, Count Lep- 
ski began to enumerate the titles of Sweden’s King, he 
covered himself once more and made sign to the ambas¬ 
sadors to do likewise. 

It was Piper who replied to the ambassadors, giving 
them assurance of his master’s friendship for the Repub¬ 
lic and concern for its welfare; he further eloquently 
135 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

reasoned that the King of Sweden came not as an aggres¬ 
sor but as the one much wronged. 

Beyond the royal appointment of special commis¬ 
sioners by our King and endless accusations on both 
sides, the ambassadors did not reach; nor did aught else 
come of the constant notes that passed between us and the 
Cardinal-Primate, nor yet from the audiences of the old 
sly-fox with both King Charles and Piper. It all wearied 
our King, who saw little usefulness or result from dis¬ 
cussion so long as Augustus remained upon the throne. 

And our King’s heart was likewise hot within him 
with rage when he learned the treacherous assault upon 
Hummerhjelm’s advance guard and the cutting down 
of his brave troop. When we reached the fatal spot on 
our southward march, we dug up each Swedish body 
and washed it and clothed it and gave it decent church 
burial, the bugles blowing the beloved Swedish airs. 

This befell the while William of England lay dead 
and Queen Anne ascended his throne, but we thought 
more of the fate of our comrades of yesterday as we 
marched, those early summer days, until we triumph¬ 
antly entered the city of Warsaw, where ’mid the as¬ 
tonished population we all knelt down in the great 
market-place and gave thanks unto the Most High God. 
On the following morning, ’mid the joyous acclamations 
of the army, King Charles took pleasure in recounting 
to his generals as they rode across the fields of Praga, 
outside the city gates, how his grandfather, of glorious 
memory, had there, with Fredrik William the Great, 
Elector of Brandenburg, defeated and routed the Polish 
army in the three days’ battle. 

136 


THE FIELD OF KLISZOW 

Southerly towards Cracow, by the heights of Klis- 
zow Church, we at last found Augustus with his army 
full thirty thousand strong, consisting of his best Saxon 
regiments, the crown army of Poland, and a mighty host 
of Wallachian horsemen. Eager as a hound from the 
leash, Charles would at once lead the attack; and had it 
not been for the ruse of the wise Piper, who reminded 
our master that in but two days we should once more 
have the ninth of July, the anniversary of the glorious 
battle of the Dima, we should at once have rushed into 
the fray with our scant seven thousand men. To our 
unspeakable joy the columns of Morner and Sten- 
bock, though worn and spent, and bearing with them 
many a litter of sick, reached us the following day, swell¬ 
ing our ranks to twelve thousand able fighters. 

Never did our Charles prove himself a greater gen¬ 
eral than on this battlefield. The advantage lay all with 
the enemy we were about to attack, for they were sur¬ 
rounded on three sides with impassable morasses and on 
the fourth commanded from their elevation the country 
around them. Not a piece of artillery did we have with 
which to match their forty-eight fine cannon. But all 
this did not disconcert King Charles, who remained firm 
in his resolve to attack upon his day of good fortune. 
Augustus and Fleming and Schulenburg and Steinau 
were all arrayed against him, as well as Lubomirski, 
the general of the crown army. What glory to defeat 
them! His Majesty reasoned that though his troops 
were hungry and footsore, like starving dogs they would 
bite the better, and on the morrow we should hear our 
glad battle-cry, “With the help of God!” Not only was 
137 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

our hero to prove himself a great general of cavalry, but 
the great commander and soldier who understood, as 
not even Prince Eugene or Marlborough, how to employ 
to their greatest mutual advantage our foot-soldiers and 
horsemen. Indeed, he showed himself a master of tactics. 

With all to win and no odds for us, the battle com¬ 
menced as the bells rang the hour of noon. Two short 
hours after saw our troops so disposed through Charles’s 
rapid and brave decisions that we might manoeuvre on 
equal terms with the enemy. Not an opportunity had 
been lost of duping him or gaining a better position. I 
wished in my heart old Dahlberg or Stuart had been 
there, that their hearts might have swelled with pride 
to see how the fledgling had learned to fly. Ah, it was a 
gallant sight to see our horsemen charging in their long 
elkskin coats, most of them merely with the breast 
cuirass, the King having forbidden it for the back — 
all, even the officers, with their carbines hanging over 
their shoulders. 

The officers of the foot wore their blue parade jackets, 
the pockets trimmed with gold galloons as were the 
broad lapels. Their stockings were dark blue and the 
shoe-buckles gilded. Their silver collars carried the 
royal initials set in palm leaves. Among the finest were 
the drabants, as every man in the regiment bore the 
rank of officer. Their hats and coats were covered with 
gold galloons, and the straps of their carbines were en¬ 
cased in blue silk. They wore long, collared gloves, and 
high top boots with black polished spurs. Gayest of all 
were the trumpeters and drummers, each one carrying 
over a hundred feet of gold galloons upon his coat, and 
138 



CHARLES XII 

Engraved by Fritzsch in 1743 













































































































































































































































































































GAY COATS, SLOTHFUL SPIRITS 

the players on the hautboy in their yellow coats with 
blue linings and shining silver galloons. 

Against these beautiful troops shone the red and gold 
of the Saxons and the many-colored fur-trimmed silks 
which the Polish noblemen wore over their cuirasses.- 
Around their waists shone golden girdles; from their 
heads waved the white plumes of their high furred caps. 
Their wide trousers were thrust into yellow morocco 
boots; bright sabres, lances and pistols shone from their 
hands and girdles. The noblest among them wore 
leopard and bearskins over their armor. On their hel¬ 
mets and the armor of their backs were fastened wings 
of the stork and the crane. 

This gay army was drawn up on a low round hill to 
our left front. Immediately before us, where we stood, 
also on a little hill which was covered with birches, was 
a deep swamp, or rather a little sluggish stream with 
very heavy marshy banks. The King and I with him 
and a few others rode on the right wing of our force, and 
there we saw a whole array of the Saxons, drawn out with 
one wing on the hill and the other against the town, the 
swamp in front. Directly between their centre and ours, 
we posted our battery on the height among the birches. 
The King, as I have said, wished to attack the day be¬ 
fore, but had taken Count Piper’s advice, which he 
found to be well taken, for by waiting until noon before 
our advance, we caught the slothful dogs completely 
off their guard as we heard afterward. The soldiers 
and many of the officers were taking their siesta, and 
Augustus himself and his staff officers were sitting 
down to a magnificent dinner which we found after the 
139 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

action scarcely touched on the table in his sumptuous 
tent. 

We pushed sturdily forward on the left wing at the 
narrow part of the stream, the more easily for that the 
Saxon gunners, seemingly with sleep still in their eyes, 
were but poor marksmen. Soon, however, the Polish 
cavalry dashed down to oppose us, and I think they 
would have given us a stiff fight for it, and perhaps have 
prevented us in the end, had the King not bethought 
him of the device of supporting us with small divisions 
of infantry among the squadrons of cavalry. Of these 
the best marksmen and musketeers stood in the rear 
rank while the front rank with pikes offered a hard nut 
for the Polish cavalry to crack. This broke their 
charges and the marksmen hurried their retreat. As 
they scoured back into the army behind, it in turn 
broke. So much I saw for myself of this battle. Those 
in other parts of the field told us afterward that they 
had a harder time than we, and indeed the Life Guards 
would have been cut to pieces by the Saxon horse, which 
far outnumbered them, had they not formed a square 
and opposed their fronts to the enemy on all sides. 

Ere the sun had set, it was all over, and Charles en¬ 
tered the Saxon camp amid the sounds of trumpets and 
timbals announcing the victory, even as the Saxons had 
blown upon our first approach. Full a thousand of Au¬ 
gustus’s finest troops entered the Swedish regiments— 
two thousand were killed and another thousand seemed 
worthless prisoners, scarce fit for aught else but slaugh¬ 
ter. In the morass we hit upon not only all the baggage, 
which was there mired, but also King Augustus’s mag- 
140 


SAXON IMPEDIMENTA 

nificent equipage with his gray mules, and plate and 
military chest with one hundred and fifty thousand 
dollars, and the fine wagons belongingto the Muscovite 
envoy. In the same morass we took up to five hundred 
women, and some with new-born sucking babes, and 
some fine ladies with which we wot not what to do or 
how to proceed. Indeed, this portion of the Saxon camp 
looked unto us like the summer fair with its many mer¬ 
chants’ booths. 

To these the King came where they were collected 
together, and removing his hat with his usual gallantry, 
stood holding it under his arm as he addressed them. 

“Ladies,” says he, “your gracious company is one 
which we rude soldiers in our campaign know not how 
to entertain, for we have neither court nor music, nor 
theatre, nor any form of entertainment with which to 
divert you. We have no saloons for evenings at ombre, 
piquet, or chess, nor yet le grand tric-trac. For billiards, 
we have naught but musket-balls and round shot. In 
a word, then, we must part; you, to your peaceful homes, 
we, to our campaigns and battles.” 

He caused them to be conducted with all possible 
safeguards that evening to the borders of Silesia, and 
for that Augustus and his soldiers were mightily 
grateful. 

Then we sang a sad Te Deum , for we too had suffered 
a great loss. In the very first cavalry charge of the 
battle, the King’s brother, the Duke of Holstein, had 
received a round shot through the reins from a fal¬ 
conet, so that he soon gave up the ghost in the shade of 
some young oaks whither we had carried him. A sad duty 
141 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


fell to the Holstein marshal, who carried to Sweden this 
letter of which I have yet a copy in my index book: — 

Most gracious Princess: 

Dearest Sister, — 

I cannot omit my duty on the occasion of the Marshal 
Goertz’ now faring forth from here, to pay my respects to Mon 
Cceur with this letter. 

I fear that my earlier letters, despatched since we left War¬ 
saw, are never arrived. And now I am heartbroken at the 
report I must make to you. We have suffered a most painful 
loss, which I well know, God pity me, will cause Mon Cceur 
an overwhelming sorrow. I know not how I well shall write; 
I only beg my sister will not permit this sorrow to take too 
great hold upon her, but will like a Christian accept it, and 
rest content as it is after the pleasure of the good and highest 
God, who does everything with us here below according to 
His gracious will and turns everything to our good. I can not 
and dare not detain Mon Cceur in this sorrowful affair, but 
only wish that our Lord, the mighty God, may console, 
strengthen, preserve and help Mon Cceur in passing through 
this, which is my firm consolation, and which I hope without 
doubt. 

With this I recommend myself to your continuous grace 
and beg Mon Cceur to assure herself that until her dying day, 
I am and shall remain her humblest and most faithful brother 
and servant, 

Carolus. 

The day after this glorious battle, the King had 
buried all the dead, excepting alone the duke. To 
honor the memory of these brave people, the King and 
his generals assisted at the obsequies and ordered a 
double discharge of all the forty-eight conquered can¬ 
non and the entire musketry. The King then ordered 
a brass coffin made for the corpse of the duke, which had 
been embalmed. When it had been carried into a hall, 


142 


FLEMING’S LETTER 

Charles, according to the established custom of our 
country, repaired thither in the company of the Duke of 
Mecklenburg, Count Piper, and his principal generals. 
The hall was illuminated with many candles. Thereupon 
the body was deposited upon a bed, three feet high, 
under a canopy of black velvet, laced and fringed with 
silver. His Majesty and the lords took a sad farewell of 
the old playmate and brother-in-arms, whereupon they 
laid him once more in his coffin and closed its lid so that 
it might safely be given in the custody of his minister 
for its long northern journey. 

At the outset, as I have said, we had no advantage 
to our side, but not so thought Fleming, who wrote to 
his master after the battle, in a letter which long after 
came to my hand: — 

We had, in one word, every advantage upon our side. My 
horse was shot under me and was crushing my intestines in, 
rolling and kicking on top of me, when to my great joy I was 
dragged out. When at last I regained my feet, not a man of 
the Polish army could be seen, and shortly thereafter the en¬ 
tire right wing of the Saxons had followed in their traces. 

The Lord God indeed gives the victory, when one 
does bravely what one ought to do. 


CHAPTER IX , 

CRACOW AND THORN 

The road to Poland’s second capital, Cracow, lay now 
as good as open to us, for Augustus, his heart burst¬ 
ing with chagrin, had fled still farther south to Sendo- 
mir, where he was fain to call the Polish nobles to¬ 
gether to press hard upon them national action against 
Charles. But see how fruitless was such a course. 
Letters and messengers and manifestoes flew back and 
forth between Cardinal, assemblies and deputations on 
the side of the Poles, and Augustus, aye, for months to 
come, and in reply from Charles and our chancellery 
was returned the firm demand that Augustus should go. 
We insisted that the Polish Republic should call a na¬ 
tional assembly in order to renounce all faith to Augus¬ 
tus, and thereupon proceed with the election of a new 
monarch. But this sorely wounded the pride and feel¬ 
ing of independence of the haughty nobles who re¬ 
sented that we as a foreign power should interfere with 
the relations of the Republic to its Ruler. Forsooth, 
there was some reason to their argument. 

Our army and our victories were however soon to pro¬ 
duce a great confederation amid the dissatisfied, and 
split the Republic in such a manner that faction upon 
faction would be weaned away from Augustus and leave 
him in a sorry plight. The Parliament he called, though 
hot and angry were its words, and furious the denuncia- 
144 


CHARLES ENTERS CRACOW 


tions of our brave troops, ended in naught but disagree¬ 
ment, wrangling, recriminations, and bloody attacks. 
Corpses in place of resolutions were the results of each 
sitting, and upon this occasion poor Lipski, who had 
been so fine when Charles had received their deputation, 
was cut into several bits by his friends. 

Stenbock was sent ahead to demand of the magis¬ 
trates entry into the city, and great was his chagrin 
when he found the bridge pulled up, the great gate 
barred and bolted, and the citizens, like Peeping Toms, 
looking out through the cracks upon us. Leaving well 
enough alone, Stenbock rode around into one of the 
suburbs, where he gave himself to crying out bravely 
for the commandant, who soon came running upon the 
wall and entered into parley with him, asserting that 
city and castle had been left in his safe keeping by 
King Augustus and for that he could not give them 
over. 

As it were in the twinkling of an eye, King Charles 
was there upon them, where they were wasting their 
breath. As the commandant, out of either simplicity 
or all too great foolishness, had opened a crack of the 
gate, — for he wanted perhaps to see who the new¬ 
comer might be, — he received a stinging stroke of 
Charles’s riding whip over the snout he had been so 
rash as to stick out, and at the same moment the King 
rushed in, Stenbock and the rest of us putting spurs to 
our horses behind him. The watch threw their muskets 
upon the ground, and when the only poor fellow who had 
any spirit, namely a lieutenant of artillery, would have 
stuck his lighted fuse to a cannon, the King tore it out 
145 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

of his hand and put it out in the seat of the poor lieu¬ 
tenant’s breeches. 

Thus Cracow was taken, but little occurred there or in 
the neighborhood except the coming of the Holy Pope’s 
messenger, the Dominican Levesi, who called Charles a 
“filius delectus” (most strange did this sound to our 
ears), and assured our King that His Holiness was 
charmed with the peace-loving mind with which His 
Majesty conducted his wars. Hermelin attended to the 
fellow’s needs and cleared him of his empty words, for 
we soldiers had but little time for the black crow’s 
cawing. 

Two events at this time cast us, however, into great 
consternation. The first of them was that the old 
citadel, with its brick walls and turrets, high up upon 
the rock, caught fire, either through accident or malice. 
While we watched the conflagration, there issued out 
from certain chambers, which we ascertained were 
dungeons and prison-cells, the most horrible shrieks and 
yells. This was but reasonable, for the inmates were 
slowly being roasted unshriven to death, and being 
Catholics, they liked not this method of procedure into 
the other world. We routed out of St. Nicholas’s 
Church and a nearby cloister a flock of monks, and 
forced them to mount upon ladders till they reached the 
gratings of the cells, from where they thus could happily 
expedite the burning prisoners into another life. 

The second event was a sad one, for our dear King 
had an unexpected fall. Stenbock had, upon the orders 
of the King, formed a company, consisting of impover¬ 
ished Polish noblemen who were alert and good riders, 
146 


AN ACCIDENT TO THE KING 

which might be employed to procure intelligence and go 
with letters. They must needs now present themselves 
before the King and ride as they were accustomed, bel¬ 
lowing as hard as they rode; and so came galloping up 
to his tent as he was about to sit down to supper. To see 
them well, the King rushed out and would leap upon his 
saddled horse, when he had the misfortune to stumble 
upon a guy-rope of the tent and fall, breaking his thigh¬ 
bone in two places. Sorrowfully the drabants carried 
him in a bed into a warm room of the house. This he 
did not like, for a house was distasteful to him. But his 
strong nature, abstemiousness, and willingness to heed 
the surgeons soon put him on crutches, and when we 
marched, thirty-two guards took turns in carrying him 
in a litter, for which each received a large silver dollar 
a day that had come from King Augustus’s well-filled 
chest, as well as also food from the royal cook. All around 
were spread the tidings of the death of King Charles, 
reaching even unto Sweden’s shores; but the whole army 
went wild with joy when it again saw him and his 
charger come galloping down the ranks. 

Now at this time I had the good fortune to serve His 
Majesty in his tent, one of his pages having eaten some 
food so strange that no medicine or purging would coax 
it out of his stomach. As this fellow was heavy and ill, 
and the other page had a bullet wound in his leg, I 
could notice my royal master in all his habits, and mark 
how he exemplified those virtues so dear to Sweden, of 
piety, firmness, and simplicity. Though all the strange 
people around us, even unto the humblest servants, 
spoke the Latin tongue, still His Majesty would insist 
147 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

upon speaking our own language. And though I knew 
full well of his familiarity with the French and German, 
still would he use his interpreters when addressed in 
these tongues, for his own country and mother-language 
were foremost in his heart. 

When tired, he would often throw himself upon his 
bed, his dogs following, to sleep at his feet; sometimes 
not even permitting me to pull off the soaked leather 
boots. Between three and four in the morning he would 
call me in as he hastily threw aside the blue silk covering 
of his narrow cot—a fine affair, indeed, compared to the 
straw I have seen him sleep on in later years, with rid¬ 
ing cape and hat to keep him warm. All the furnishings 
he wished were a few chairs and a table with the tallow 
candles on each side of the great Bible, with its golden 
clasps. Gustavus Adolphus’s prayer-book he always 
kept in his pocket. After his quick dressing he would 
read a chapter of the Holy Book he knew so well, and 
then kneel and pray. I would then have to follow him 
rapidly to the chancellery where he would work until 
seven, when the trumpets sounded and we would, as 
every Swedish soldier, uncover our heads and offer a 
prayer to the God of Battles. 

His breakfast would be but a scrap of meat and 
small-beer soup with bread in big slices. Though the fare 
suited him well enough (else why should he choose it?), 
he would swallow it like medicine and then be off on 
his horse, out to reconnoitre or to inspect the troops, 
away like an arrow from the bowstring, leaving the 
camp on one or another errand, his guardsmen follow¬ 
ing in a string as a pack of hounds hot-foot after the 
148 


A RETORT TO THE POPE 


game. Always galloping, mile upon mile, until at ten, 
drenched to the skin or covered with mud, he returned 
to work, until the trumpets again at four called him to 
prayer. Then again, until the early hour of supper and 
bed, His Majesty remained in the saddle. A strange life 
for a monarch and most unlike those of his royal 
brethren! 

At last we turned north, in the tracks of Augustus, to 
Sendomir, on to Lublin for Christmas, the King staying 
in the Castle of Jakobovice; and still further to the 
north-west, to the glorious fields of Pultusk and Thorn. 
Here we discovered the true purport of the visit of that 
sly monk, Levesi, for he must now out with the truth. 
He let fall that 

the King of Sweden could never oblige to a greater extent 
His Holiness the Pope than if His Majesty would present him 
Saint Britas’s bones, or permit him to buy them for a consider¬ 
able sum of money. His Majesty, who was of another religion, 
set no value on them, but for the Roman Church they were 
sacred relics and an excellent treasure. 

This was all recounted to His Majesty, who gave an¬ 
swer immediately that 

it would be dear to His Majesty if he could oblige His 
Holiness in anything else, but in this it could not happen for, 
primo, one was quite uncertain where Saint Britas’s bones could 
be found; secundo, even if one fully knew Saint Britas’s grave 
and bones, His Majesty held it for a great sin and ungodli¬ 
ness, contrary both to religion and his conscience, to wish to 
strengthen anyone in the superstition and delusion of making 
a sacred object of some old bones; tertio, in what concerned 
their redemption with money, Levesi would have to find 
relics elsewhere for sale, for His Majesty was a king and not 
a tradesman. 


149 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


Near Pul tusk, despite the enemy having got upon the 
field ahead of us, our horse won a glorious victory, re¬ 
joicing at full a thousand of the enemy’s horse drowning 
in the river, and taking as prisoners well-nigh a hundred 
more, with scarce the loss of a score of our own. As the 
enemy fled, I bethought myself that there is no king 
saved by the multitude of a host, nor a mighty man de¬ 
livered by much strength. 

Our camp was indeed to be a busy place during the 
coming months, for all Europe was agog with our af¬ 
fairs, and a covey of ambassadors came a-courting our 
King, now they began to feel how the wind lay. One 
great prince after the other must fight under the Swedish 
banners, and ministers followed as coach-dogs, hoping 
for an audience. Audiences were given, and we entered 
into great alliances with England and the States-General 
and the newly baked kingdom of Prussia. The Cardinal, 
the Polish nobles and Prussian deputations pestered us 
sorely, the Poles saying that their “Serene Republic” 
came before His Majesty’s eyes in order to fetch olive- 
branches covered with flowers, trusting they were not 
to be beaten down by the tempest of a bloody war, but 
that rather peace and justice might, in entwining around 
the flowering branches, kiss amid their fragrant shades. 

Piper, knowing his business, understood how to make 
reply, and bided his time when the great factions of the 
Sobieski, the Sapieha, and the sly old Cardinal might 
learn to know Sweden as a better friend than enemy. 
And he also comprehended that there was a string in 
the Polish heart, which, when touched, moved their 
patriotism, and that was their ill-will against Muscovy. 

150 


THE LITTLE PRINCE 


Of all the great men that came to us in these days, 
there was one who was indeed to become a Jonathan to 
our great David, and to be loved and worshipped by us 
all. Full many a time and in divers manner was our 
King to hazard his life for him, and 4 ‘The Little Prince” 
was to go down amid Swedish soldiers as another word 
for bravery and fidelity. In these stout days you could 
find in all the great campaigns and in the vanguard of 
the great battles, scions of the princely house of Wiirtem- 
berg. Wherever they fought, and at times on opposing 
sides, they were known for their devotion to duty, affec¬ 
tion, and bravery. In tender years they went to war 
and they generally attained to well-deserved posts of 
high command. There were indeed glorious traditions 
of war in Prince Maximilian Emanuel’s family. 

It was while our headquarters lay in Okunow that 
there arrived the Prince of Wiirtemberg. He had by his 
lady mother, the Princess Eleanor Juliana, sent word of 
his desire to come into Swedish service, although being 
in age but fourteen years. Therefore she had written to 
His Majesty and received his most gracious consent. 
At his arrival he delivered the letter of his lady mother, 
in which she requested that His Majesty would receive 
him even as would a guardian, and would be pleased 
to let him lead a campaign or send him to Stockholm, 
till he had come to full stature and strength. Upon the 
King’s first question, if the Prince had a desire to go to 
war, he answered, “Yes,” to which the King replied 
that it would be his greatest plaisir in the world. 

Orders were at once given to procure the Prince all 
necessary equipage, and equipment for his servants was 
151 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

likewise provided. But the Prince himself should al¬ 
ways remain at the King’s table, besides that he should 
be accommodated out of the King’s caisse with what 
he needed. And the Prince had been taught all the 
proper accomplishments before coming to the Swedish 
banners. At the universities of Tubingen and Geneva, 
had he qualified himself in studies, languages and exer¬ 
cises as much as was needful for a Prince. There was 
thus nothing remaining but either in war or in the 
practices of courts to bring his knowledge to a flowering. 

He was a friendly youth, free and affable in converse. 
I myself had much companionship of him, close as we 
were to the King’s person, and riding and walking much 
together. He told me a thousand and one personal tales 
of how after diverting himself with hunting and ballets, 
he had set out for our camp, coming first into Leipzig, 
where the'cleanliness and sobriety, the wonderful order 
and the complaisant and engaging intercourse of the 
people had charmed him. Next he had journeyed by 
Dresden, and admired the stallion stable so trig and 
tidy, and its thirty rooms filled with costly trappings all 
studded with precious stones, as well as also the won¬ 
drous curiosities of the King and his royal menagerie 
and jewel-chamber. 

Coming at last to Poland, he observed how the people 
went, according to the oriental manner, quite bare¬ 
footed, though they differed therein from the peoples of 
the Orient that washing of the feet w^as not customary 
among them. Then he wondered at Dantzig, for amid 
Prussia’s great cities this was the richest as Konigsberg 
was most populous, Elbingen the most accurst, and 
152 


POLISH MANNERS 

Thorn the loveliest. He marvelled at the great dogs 
which guarded the warehouses at night. And he learned 
matters new to him, — how a nobleman might for thirty 
great-marks kill another, or a peasant at half this price, 
and how the warder received six marks from the peasant 
that killed another or, in default of payment, might kill 
the murderer. 

The inns in which he perforce must lodge were quite 
different from his own castle. He needed not to fear the 
dustiness of the floors, for they were of earth, and 
wetted by the children, the cattle, and the cook by her 
stove. The stench did much annoy his nostrils, being 
so penetrating and strong that it might even have been 
beyond the art of an apothecary to expel it. As it was 
cold without, the cows and calves were housed in the 
room with the princely traveller, as well as the swine, 
which disturbed his slumbers by their loud grunting 
from under the drinking benches. For nourishment he 
received thick sour beer and black bread smeared with 
drippings. And what was left over from the fare of the 
travellers, the hostess, who would without modesty 
bare herself, would smear upon her body. Coming at 
last unto Plozko within sight of our camp-fires, he be¬ 
held four young nuns die from fear of the approach of 
our soldiers. This grieved him. 

Having thus seen so many and strange sights, Prince 
Maximilian Emanuel was right glad to reach us and to 
put that valor to test which was never to falter and was 
to be the admiration of our soldiers, even through the 
day of Poltava, until we said of him and His Gracious 
Majesty, “Qualis Rex , talis grex .” 

153 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


Now it lay mostly in King Charles's thoughts that 
King Augustus had a garrison in the rich city of Thorn 
of some six thousand Saxon foot. So he sent Stenbock 
to look into the matter, the rest of us soon following upon 
his heels. On our own march thither, the King and the 
Prince were riding together when the Prince was thrown 
by his horse into a ditch. The King, who was neither 
aware of the ditch nor of the Prince’s mishap, tumbled 
himself and horse so violently upon the Prince, that the 
little fellow had all wind pressed out of his inners. Not 
until midnight, when he had sweated mightily by aid 
of the strong medicaments administered unto him, was 
he able to regain his speech. Thereupon he had his 
hair cut off so as to wear it short, after the fashion of 
His Majesty. 

The investment of this city was indeed to prove a 
long tussle, albeit we were each evening diverted by the 
comedians come unto us from Stockholm. The new 
ravelin of the Saxons was at once furnished with can¬ 
nons and redoubt baskets from which they every morn¬ 
ing shot their reveille and every evening their taps with 
three shots directed at our headquarters and His Ma¬ 
jesty's tent, without, God be praised, doing however any 
other harm than to shoot off the head of the sutler’s 
wife, and into two pieces the body of a cook, who was 
frying blood-pies in His Majesty’s kitchen. Several 
times the Saxon balls went through the royal tent. It 
was a sorry day when the Saxon gunners, perceiving the 
richness of General Lieven’s dress, pointed one of their 
cannon upon him. His Majesty, fearing lest the uni¬ 
form of the general would be observed in the prominent 
154 


THE SIEGE OF THORN 


position they were both situate, would have pulled him 
behind him, when at that instant a ball took Lieven’s 
leg off, depositing it some four feet from his body, which 
greatly grieved the King, as Lieven had been a brave 
soldier in the armies of Charles the Eleventh of blessed 
memory. 

Amid these many troubles, the letters from the Cardi¬ 
nal came as fast as the hiccoughs of a drunkard, and 
were as difficult to stop by any of our reasoning. The 
King likewise showed a remarkable proof of his con¬ 
cern for his colony in America. For hearing that its 
Bibles and Psalm-books and Catechisms were well-nigh 
worn out, His Majesty sent orders to the Royal Senate 
that the same autumn they should for their edification 
and instruction receive a new supply. 

Each night the King and the little Prince would go to 
the trenches and remain with the soldiers until the break 
of day; their lives were filled with adventures and dan¬ 
gers in which the Lord held his protecting hand over 
them. Without ceasing were we busied with the making 
of woollen sacks and braiding of baskets, while the car¬ 
penters fashioned devices for storming, and faggots 
were carried forward amid the light of the enemy's 
glowing balls and rockets. His Majesty thus proved 
himself a master not to be outdone by anybody. He had 
at last so posted his army in the suburbs of the city and 
drawn lines round the whole circumference, that the 
city was all begirt. The works were large, the ditches 
deep and flanked with innumerable bastions, ravelins, 
horn-works, redoubts, and palisadoes. 

At last, this being September of the year 1703 , after 

155 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

nigh four months’ patient waiting, our field artillery 
arrived and we could from every side full joyfully play 
upon all portions of the city, setting many a stately 
edifice aflame. It took not long ere the white flag showed 
itself from without the crumbling city gate, and the 
capitulation was accepted by His Gracious Majesty. 
The walls and towers we had shot down, and the town 
hall was burned. The generals and colonels, as also 
many officers, came out so as to make reverence unto 
our King, while the citizens hid themselves in the cel¬ 
lars. For but four hours were our soldiers allowed to 
sack the city and plunder its houses, yet in this time 
many a rich coffer was emptied and money-bag slit. The 
church and cloister bells we hoisted down with care, and 
sent with trophies and the right excellent Saxon artillery 
into Sweden, as well as also many of the twelve thou¬ 
sand soldiers, as we could find no employment for them. 
The larders and the warehouses were indeed sorry sights, 
for we found nothing but rotten stinking herring, from 
the eating of which four thousand soldiers lay sick with 
cramps in their stomachs. 

The streets were narrow and crooked and dark from 
the overhang of the ancient houses. The houses, too, 
were so dark within that we were more than once in 
danger of burning the whole city with the torches the 
soldiers used in their search for plunder. So crowded 
were the streets with the screaming, excited crowd of 
plundering soldiers and distracted citizens that even on 
horseback and with the authority of an officer I could 
scarce make my way about. It was a quaint sight to see 
the frantic efforts of all to get as much as they could in 
156 


SPOIL AND PILLAGE 


four short hours allowed for the sacking. At first each 
man seized what he could find, dropping it when he 
came upon something seemingly more to his purpose. 
For the first hour or so anything of value would suffice, 
however clumsy to carry or unsuitable to the furniture 
of a soldier. I saw one trooper coming out of one of 
the finer houses, I suppose that of some noble, bearing 
upon his back a heavy French clock, which was indeed 
worth much money, but of no value to any in the city 
at that time. Before long all such things were rejected, 
by the soldiers at least, and left either scattered about 
the streets or to be carried off by the citizens. In one 
little courtyard from which the tide of plunder had for 
the moment receded I came upon a bundle, or rather a 
pillow filled with goods abandoned by a plunderer, and 
stopped to see what it contained. In the top I found four 
large silver spoons marked with a crest and seven small 
ones unmarked and much worn, a fine silver porringer 
engraved with arms, a pair of heavy silver candle¬ 
sticks, a long gold chain of fine workmanship which I 
took to be Italian, and two gold watches. I took the 
chain and the better of the two watches which indeed 
served me well for many years. Aside from this I got 
nothing from the plunder but a pocketful of gold pieces 
and a right good sword, which I came upon oddly 
enough. 

I met with three foot-soldiers of a marching regiment 
who had dragged out into the street a feather mattress, 
in which for some reason they supposed money to be 
hidden. They ripped it open and sent the feathers flying 
like a snowstorm and sticking comically in their hair and 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

beards, but nought did they find within save the sword 
of which I speak. Why it was hidden there I know not, 
save that some burgher may have set great store by it. 
The soldiers were about to break it in their rage, when 
I stopped them and commanded them to hand it 
over to me. It was a fine blade of hard Italian steel, 
inlaid a little with gold just below the hilt and the hilt 
plain. There being no scabbard therewith, I was about 
to toss it aside, when I bethought me that it was a bet¬ 
ter blade than my own, and trying it found it to fit my 
scabbard to a nicety. Therefore I threw aside the blade 
I had carried and slipped my plunder into my scabbard. 
It served me well throughout all my campaigns, and 
hangs now on the wall above me as I write. 

From a large house fronting on the market square 
came two fusileers carrying a huge, heavy Spanish mir¬ 
ror in a silver frame set with jewels. From this they 
kicked the glass with their heavy boots and set it down 
to crack the silver and pick out the jewels like boys 
cracking walnuts. Foodstuffs, too, were eagerly sought 
and as eagerly defended by the housewives. I saw one 
stout trooper disputing with a buxom woman the pos¬ 
session of a handsome ham. Before I had passed they 
came to fisticuffs over it, in which, if my memory serves, 
the woman had the better, but whether through her own 
strength or the gallantry of the trooper, I cannot say. 
When our legs were tiring of their joyous running 
hither and thither, and our pockets were bulging with 
the treasures we had found, Lagercrona ordered the 
trumpets to sound and we must hold up with the merry 
plundering. 


158 


CELEBRATION OF VICTORY 

The burghers, seeing the soldiers desist and obedient 
as ever Swedish soldiers are, came out from under the 
earth and the many holes and hiding-places into which 
they had crept in their great agony and fear. They 
came to the King and our camp. For their refreshment 
as well as for that of the common soldiers who were now 
our prisoners, a partie of oxen and sheep was driven 
forth. These they were not alone to devour, but also 
to send to their wives within the city walls. Count 
Sperling also magnificently regaled all the officers of 
the garrison, the King having ordered fifty dishes out of 
his own kitchen for such purpose. But the King him¬ 
self, at the royal table, dined full regally the command¬ 
ing officers, His Majesty pleasing after this feast to walk 
out among the rabble and give two ducats to every sol¬ 
dier's wife, who had been at Kliszow and recognized 
him, despite his simple blue coat. 

At last we shot a great victoria over the happy 
conquest of this same city, which happened first with 
all the cannons, twice charged around the whole for¬ 
tress, and the works of all the batteries, whereupon one 
regiment after the other throughout the whole army 
twice shot victoria with their musketry, beginning by 
battalions with the King’s Guards. This it was a great 
joy to hear; even the women from the city, who swarmed 
and crawled around us like ants, clapped their hands 
and jumped in the air with glee. Upon the market-place 
by the town hall, music was made with all manner of 
instruments. We let the Saxons play for us. One amid 
them played upon a harp like unto that of King David, 
but his strings were of steel wires. One officer gave this 
159 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

harpist eight silver wires for his harp, and the rest of us 
all gave him some more, so that he at last got his harp 
full, well a couple of hundred. 

With us it was thus well — we had the country about 
us at command, and daily fetched our provision and 
forage from the fields; but not so with our other armies 
and provinces. The Muscovites had slowly been learn¬ 
ing many a useful lesson in the arts of war and making 
of soldiers. That arch schemer and devil, Patkul, had 
been busily forming an European army for Peter out of 
wild and cowardly herds like unto those we whipped 
at Narva. Even as we victoriously entered Thorn, did 
Patkul’s machinations at last bring about a new alli¬ 
ance between Peter and Augustus, whereby Poland was 
opened for the Muscovite soldiers, without the Republic 
knowing aught of what was going on. Augustus should 
conclude no separate peace with Sweden, while Peter 
was yearly to send him 300,000 roubles and lend him 
twelve thousand of his best foot. 

In our northern provinces, matters had reached a sad 
condition. Narva had fallen after a brave resistance. 
Vast numbers were slain, for not to mention three thou¬ 
sand men which the Muscovites lost in the attack, nor 
the slaughter of the Swedish soldiers, the poor inhab¬ 
itants lay butchered in heaps; streams of blood ran 
through the streets, and the enemy were employed for 
three days together in drawing out the dead, wounded 
and sick on wagons and carts. They carried them all to 
the bridge of Ivanogrod where they dumped the dead 
and living, without mercy, one upon the other in the 
river. Our small armies had been beaten by an avalanche 
160 


STIRRING TIMES 

of Russians, and Ingria, for which Peter’s mouth so 
long had watered, had completely fallen in his power. 
From our Swedish battlements, the Tsar had received 
the embassy of Achmed the Third, from Constantinople. 
The inhabitants, old and young, were carried into Mus¬ 
covy to live in captivity. 

. I cannot here avoid relating that unto the lucky lot of 
General Bauer fell a fair young captive, Catherine Rabe, 
who was a buxom serving-wench in the household of the 
Provost of the churches of Marienburg. That she here 
was brought to light and favor, was to prove a misfor¬ 
tune for Sweden. Strange was thus the beginning of the 
arbitress of the north and mediatrix of Europe! 

Men, women and children were packed like geese in 
basket-wagons, their heads sticking up between the 
reeds. Alas, when they reached the borders of Tartary, 
there were but a couple living to each score, and not 
plump ones at that. Everywhere was there wailing and 
gnashing of teeth. The Muscovite was, alas, learning 
the evil of their saying that “to fly may not be mostly 
honorable, but it is sensible.” 

These were indeed the days for a soldier to live in. 
Outside our own camps many a drum was beating and 
bugle bravely blowing. Prince Eugene was defeating 
Catinat at Carpi and Villeroi at Chiari. Marlborough, 
in his corner of Europe, captured the strong fortresses 
on the Maas, while on the other hand, Vendome checked 
the Savoyan Prince’s advance and Villars defeated the 
Austrians at Hochstadt. 

In the most northerly corner of our province, the 
Muscovite Tsar had founded a new capital on the very 
161 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

outskirts of his dominions, rather than in their centre. 
He wished thus to proclaim himself loudly a European 
sovereign instead of an Asiatic, and would build himself 
on the shores of his new city, a fleet with which to dis¬ 
pute with us the dominion of the Baltic. It was to be a 
death grapple with Sweden rather than the destruction 
of Tartar and Chinese hordes. The prisoners that es¬ 
caped into our Swedish camps told of the strange man¬ 
ner in which the Muscovites builded their fortress, for 
knowing neither barrow to wheel nor spade nor pick, 
they carried the dirt which they dug with their naked 
hands, in the rags and skirts of their clothing, depositing 
it without the walls of the enclosure they were building 
with great toil 


CHAPTER X 

LEMBERG AND WARSAW 

And now the year of our Lord 1705 was dawning, with 
our armies in winter quarters by the Castle of Heilsberg, 
while Arvid Horn, turned statesman, was sent into War¬ 
saw with the King’s best wishes for the assembled Polish 
nobles to come into a speedy conclusion. It was a strange 
business, and our King’s good efforts were not appreci¬ 
ated, for Piper showed me a billet sent into his tent by 
one of the party, who had the effrontery to state that 

history could scarcely show forth aught more remarkable 
than the Polish embroglio. King Charles in the most barba¬ 
rous manner, at the head of his great horse and foot, deter¬ 
mined upon a whole people submitting to his every whim, 
treating them with the most horrible brutality, ravaging, 
destroying and eating up the country, and yet insisting full 
loudly that he has come as a deliverer, to save it from awful 
tyranny. 

Indeed, it was passing strange to see the brave captain 
of the drabants turned into an artful statesman, adroit 
in speech and insistent with his arguments. It seemed, 
with his clear vision and wise judgment, as if he were as 
great in the council chamber as ’mid the turmoil of bat¬ 
tle, showing a rare wisdom in reading the hearts of men 
and bending them to his will. Unto the Cardinal he 
found it necessary constantly to apply the spurs, in 
order that there might be no lagging by the roadside, 
and the belts of the Polish nobles swallowed gold as the 

163 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

bear does honey. When they, however, learned from 
the letters we had by good fortune taken from Count¬ 
ess Konigsmarck and Count Vitzthum how traitorously 
Augustus had consented unto secretly promising Polish 
territory to Sweden for the price of peace, great became 
their wrath and loud their curses. It was not long ere 
all fealty to King Augustus was forsworn, the throne 
declared vacant, and his Eminence requested to hasten 
the arrangements for the election of a new king. 

Though there had been much ado to get rid of Augus¬ 
tus, it seemed no easier task to find a king to replace him. 
Opalinsky was a well-liked name, but for two reasons 
was it necessary to pass him by. The first being his 
quarrelsome insolence, which offended his many brother- 
electors, and the second that in the heat of argument he 
fell down dead amid them. So there was also the great 
name of Sobieski. Not alone had King John Sobieski 
saved Poland and the Holy Roman Empire from the 
Turks, but later proved a most excellent regent. Au¬ 
gustus had traitorously, contrary to every law of God 
and man, imprisoned two of King John’s sons, and the 
third, Prince Alexander, fled in terror unto our camp; 
but King he would not be. Bad enough had it been to 
be prince. His Eminence still cast sheep’s eyes upon 
the Prince of Conti, and many of the nobles shouted 
lustily for the Crown General Subomirski, but the 
choice was to fall upon the young voyevod of Posen, 
Stanislaus Lecszinski. Some time before, this young 
nobleman, whose career was afterward so tragic, had 
come to His Majesty’s notice and had received also 
favorable comment from Horn. Even he, however, was 
164 


ELECTION OF STANISLAUS 

none too well furnished with courage, but would have 
preferred the hunt and the smoking of his much tobacco. 
He was in the hey-day of his youth, he himself and his 
spouse, an Opalinsky, from amid the noblest lineage of 
the realm. He was full of knowledge and eagerness, 
straightforward, and of an engaging complaisance which 
secured him the good-will of Polish nobles. 

On the historic plain of Vela, outside Warsaw, the 
great and lesser noblemen assembled to debate and 
quarrel. The field surgeons were kept nigh as busy with 
the results of their debates as upon the battlefield. 

Wishing to keep his sly finger out of this dangerous 
pie, the Cardinal had easily let himself be persuaded by 
his mistress, Madam Towianski, to remain in prayer 
and meditation away from the cavil and strife. There 
were many barons of all degrees, princes and prelates, 
to strut and parade themselves, dressed in their finest 
garments amid their retinues of noble retainers and 
domestics. In order that some action might be taken, 
Polish horse as well as a goodly detachment of Swedish 
troops surrounded the electors and senators. At last, 
’mid the urging of Horn on one side and the shouting on 
the other, Stanislaus was made King, while Klinckow- 
strom galloped off as fast as his horse could carry him to 
bring the joyful news to Charles, impatiently waiting 
without, at Blonie. Now must the crown be set upon 
Stanislaus’s head. 

But King Charles could ill bring his thoughts to dwell 
upon affairs of state, for his heart was sick within him 
over the fatal jest he had so innocently practised on his 
beloved chamberlain and master-of-horse, Axel Hard. 

165 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

As boys they had played their daredevil pranks to¬ 
gether, while at Narva Hard had dragged his royal 
master out of the morass and from out of the water of 
the Dima. Loving His Majesty with the mute devotion 
of a dog, Hard would gladly have laid his life down for 
his master. Now in camp at Heilsberg, the autumn days 
were too long to be spent wholly in reading German 
or Scandinavian histories, or going a-riding, or in read¬ 
ing and practising the art of fortification or shooting 
or hunting. And so, to pass the idle hours most divert- 
ingly, the King and his drabants would ofttimes divide 
into two parties and storm upon each other in full gal¬ 
lop, seeing whether they might not with the butt edges 
of their swords beat each other off their horses or at 
least break an arm or two without too much hurt. Axel 
Hard pushed in charging clear through King Charles’s 
troop, so that he might take him prisoner. So he cried 
out lustily, “Were I now an enemy, what would Your 
Majesty do? ” Charles answered thereto, “Thus I would 
do,” and thereupon His Majesty fired the pistol which 
he believed filled only with loose powder right at the 
breast of his friend. Alas, the ramrod had been inad¬ 
vertently left within it and the poor drabant, bored 
through the breast, sank down in his blood. He died 
two days thereafter, having patiently and devotedly 
endeavored to console our agonized King. In confessing 
before the evening meal to his chaplain, Joran Nord- 
berg, King Charles’s face was bathed in tears which still 
flowed as he sat at table, and long did he remain more 
silent than ever in his own council. Until his death this 
unhappy day remained a day of fasting and prayer. 

166 


POMPEIUS EGREGIUS CANUS 


Hard was not the only loss, for the faithful dog, 
Pompey, died at the same time. As if to show that the 
friends of His Majesty had everything to expect from 
his gratitude, Pompey’s corpse was sent into Sweden for 
proper burial in the same vessel that conveyed brave 
Axel Hard, and upon the coffin of Pompey these lines 
were inscribed: “Pompeius egregius canus, invectissimo 
Suecorum Regi merito charus, in Polonia mortuus, inde 
in Sueciam, ne extra patriam tumularetur transmissus.” 

At this time the King also wrote unto his sister, the 
Princess Ulrica Eleanora, in order once more to ac¬ 
quaint her with our life in the camps and to dissuade 
her from coming, as she had graciously expressed a de¬ 
sire to do, the long and dangerous way to pay us com¬ 
pliments and a visit. His Majesty thus wrote: 

Serenest Princess: 

Highest-honored, dearest Sister! 

From here I have not much to recount, for it must already 
be known, what has happened. We have now had a lot of 
Swedish ladies who came over this spring by ship and had a 
bevy of brides with them, so that here have been held wed¬ 
dings nigh every day. But the passion of the newly wedded 
men will now soon have to abate, for we must ere long break 
up and seek to divert ourselves with the pleasant and usual 
“field” promenade. 

Otherwise, my dear Sister must know that some weeks ago 
I had the great misfortune to lose the good Axel Hard, in that 
he was wounded by a shot through carelessness in play, and so 
severely that he later died of it. 

I beg pardon that I must in haste write so badly and in 
confusion. I recommend myself to Mon Cceur’s constant 
grace, and remain unto death, my heart’s Sister’s humblest, 
truest, brother and servant, 

Carolus. 


167 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


This life of entertaining our wives and sucking our 
paws in laziness could not last long. So it came to our 
good King’s mind no longer to permit Augustus to sleep 
in security, but at once to attack his strong city of 
Lemberg. For this there were good reasons, for, although 
the city was surrounded by many a deep moat, high wall 
and lofty tower, the Turkish hordes had withdrawn from 
its walls after a three months’ siege and, having never 
been conquered, it bore the proud device, Intacta virgo . 

The deflowering of this unravished bride was short 
work for us. Where one hundred thousand Turks had 
failed during three long months, our boys in blue con¬ 
quered within the bleeding of a stuck pig, for two hours 
saw us inside the walls. There we marvelled greatly at 
the houses and churches, for albeit we knew it to be the 
principal trading centre of Red Russia and prized as one 
of the most beautiful cities in Poland, yet we knew not 
of such fine buildings. Though the good townspeople 
had scurried like rats for their cellars and were peeping 
out anxiously from the gratings upon the wares they 
had in their haste left standing upon the market-places, 
it was not long before we saw much trade going on 
’twixt all manner of peoples, such as the Turks and 
Persians, Armenians and Muscovites and others, and 
the barefooted Franciscan monks stealing bites as they 
threaded their barefooted way amid the thoroughfares. 
And also in the city we found a great number of Turkish 
and Tartar slaves, from whom His Majesty had their 
shackles struck off, giving them freedom to go where 
they listed, which caused an indescribable joy to these 
poor people. 


168 


WARSAW RETAKEN 


But, while the cat is away the mice will play. Au¬ 
gustus, knowing our steps turned in the tempting direc¬ 
tion of Lemberg, believed now was the time to strike a 
coward’s blow at Warsaw, where Arvid Horn sat with 
but 480 men under his command. The little Prince 
would gladly have come to the rescue. But how could 
he? For he had lately gone on a visit into Augustus’s 
finest city of Konigsberg to see two fine fellows. One 
of them was a Prussian peasant who would swallow a 
knife, whereupon he would with the surgeon’s care have 
it cut out of his belly, all for the earning of a bag of 
ducats. And the other was a still more precious fellow, 
for, he had been born without hands and feet. None the 
less, he took a quill and cut it himself to rights, and 
wrote with it as well as the best clerk, threaded also 
with great speed a thread through the needle’s eye, 
played cards and ninepins, shot off a gun and performed 
many a jolly prank. 

So poor Horn was left alone, in consternation over 
his sorry plight, while the lady mother and Queen-elect 
and children of Stanislaus must flee head over heels. 
Yes, even the young Princess, later to become Queen of 
France, must take refuge behind the dung-heap of a 
stable. Thirty thousand Saxons surrounded the walls, 
which would soon have been set afire by the violent bom¬ 
bardment of fireballs, had not a terrific rainstorm, by 
the grace of God, put out the many fires. When, how¬ 
ever, all resistance has proved hopeless and the enemy is 
pouring tar upon the walls with which to ignite them, 
Horn humbly requests permission that the 418 men 
still remaining unto him may graciously be permitted to 
169 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

come outside into the field and meet in open combat, 
fighting unto the end, 1250 of the finest Saxon or Polish 
soldiers or noblemen as he might deem most fit. For 
three to one, asserted Horn, would they gladly fight 
them, for the honor and everlasting glory of the golden 
crowns of Sweden. 

Augustus answered in neither black nor white, for he 
liked not the proposal, neither did the offer find favor 
among his officers — so the gallant little band was forced 
to surrender. 

No sooner had Charles heard these tidings than off 
we hurried bag and baggage, southward once more to 
Warsaw. Away flew Augustus, south and west. 

And then we rested, thank God, at Ravitz for well- 
nigh eight months. ’Twere no Egyptian fleshpots, for 
food was scanty, and even King Charles had but hay 
or straw upon which to lay himself and ofttimes but the 
crust of hard bread for his meal. Here we exchanged our 
prisoners, and His Majesty clad the Saxons anew from 
head to foot, so that they were so clean and fine that 
they could not refrain from constantly gazing upon their 
clothes. And here, too, came the Queen-elect of Poland 
and King Stanislaus’s lady mother, who were compli¬ 
mented and lodged in our best quarters. Arvid Horn 
had also got marriage thoughts in his head and must 
needs wed the Lady Inga Tornflycht, who had accom¬ 
panied her sister, the Lady Piper, come upon a visit to 
her lord. 

With spring came the tidings of the Holy Roman Em¬ 
peror’s death and of Joseph I having succeeded him 
upon the throne, while King Augustus, having cleansed 
170 


WINTER QUARTERS 

his system at Karlsbad and being lonely without the 
Princess Lubomirski, had sent for her to come to him. 
Colonel Hagen having gotten wind of the intended 
amorous voyage of the Princess, waylaid her and all her 
baggage and trappings, in which he found rich booty of 
silver, jewels and moneys. King Charles, now receiving 
word of all this, wrote with his own hand: — 

The Colonel shall at once make his prisoner free, with all 
that to her belongs, for we do not wage war against women¬ 
folk. And if the Princess does not believe herself entirely se¬ 
cure for the remainder of the journey, then the Colonel shall 
escort her to the Saxon border, making pleasant company 
upon the way. 

Despite our winter quarters being permanently sit¬ 
uated at Ravitz, this winter between 1704 and 1705 was 
not without adventure, as may be seen from the billet 
sent unto the Princess Ulrica by His Majesty and whim¬ 
sically penned in the French tongue. 

Tout 1 ’hiver c’est pass6 en marches et contre-marches, 
d’abord depuis Varsovie jusqu’a Sendomir, Jarislaw, Lem- 
burg, et puis en arri&re en longeant Samak, Lublin, Weingraf, 
Burgstrom, et enfin Varsovie et Ravitz. On a et6 ainsi 
jusqu’en Silesie et, dans ces excursions une partie de la cava- 
lerie suedoise a 6te assez heureuse pour trouver k livrer bataille 
un soir vers le cr^puscule contre l’infanterie Saxonne, mais 
celle-ci, gr&ce a l’obscurite, a trouve moyen d’6chapper. La 
cavalerie su6doise a rencontr6 ensuite une troupe de Mos- 
covites, puis une troupe de Cosaques qui ont 6te massacres. 
Depuis, l’armee s’est etablie dans les villages et les soldats 
s’y reposent comme des chiens faineants jusqu’a ce qu’une 
nouvelle occasion se presente. . . . J ’ai regu la derniere lettre 
de mon cceur, qui m’annonce le projet de mon coeur et de 
ma soeur Hedvige de faire le p6nible voyage de Stockholm k 
Ravitz. Je ne souhaiterais rien plus vivement que de pou- 

171 



CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


voir presenter une fois personellement mes hommages aux 
soeurs de mon coeur; ce serai t. mon plus grand plaisir, et, si 
les soins de Tarmee me le permettait, je ne negligerais rien 
pour aller k la rencontre des soeurs de mon coeur; mais je 
crois le voyage k peu pr&s impossible et certainement trop 
p6nible pour mes cheres soeurs, d’autant plus que personne 
n’est jamais sur du lieu ou l’arm£e est fixee pour quelque 
temps. 


CHAPTER XI 

CHECKMATE FOR AUGUSTUS 

But this being all over, we moved into Blonie in Sep¬ 
tember, 1705, to see to the crowning of Stanislaus — and 
to stay there until came the new year, 1706. ’Twas no 
easy matter to find prelate to crown and anoint the 
King, nor, what is more, to discover the wherewithal 
to crown him, for King Augustus had long ago packed 
the crown regalia amid his baggage into Saxony, where 
there might be no further dispute about them. And the 
Pope in Rome, seeing what way the wind blew, wrote 
to his Polish Children in Christ a circular letter, wherein 
they were warned to have no finger in the coronation. 
But like unto many a papal letter, it had the opposite 
effect from that intended, causing much bitterness 
among the magnates, angered at the interference of the 
Holy Father in their own household matters. One after 
another the difficulties were overcome. The Primate 
feigning too great illness to set the crown upon Stanis¬ 
laus's head, we started a-hunting for the Archbishop of 
Lemberg, Dzielinski. So that he might escape from the 
coronation and the results to be expected from it in an¬ 
other as well as this world, he had hidden himself with 
a few faithful retainers in a swamp situated deep in a 
forest. 

From this refuge Charles sent two or three companies 
of drabants under my direction to oust him. We trotted 
173 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

out there at near sunset, and found it a dreary enough 
place, with sparse thickets about the edge, and such 
ground within as we dared not trust our horses to, nor 
ourselves either for that matter. It was clear enough 
that there must be some secret way in, safe enough if 
one could but find it; but for that we had no time. We 
must produce the Archbishop before sunrise and could 
not hunt rabbit-paths by the light of the will-o’-the- 
wisp. Accordingly we set ourselves completely around 
the swamp and waited till about the rising of the moon, 
whereupon, I giving the signal, we raised such a devil¬ 
ish din what with firing our carbines and pistols into 
the air and yelling like Tartars and Kalmuks, that the 
Archbishop must have thought that all the devils of 
hell were let loose in his swamp. Out he came and in a 
sorry plight, for he was mired to the waist with losing 
his path in haste and darkness, torn with briers, and 
fairly sobbing for breath. Even as he was, we took him 
straight before the King, who added to our amusement 
by receiving him with all the pomp and ceremony he 
could command at the moment, as if the Archbishop 
had been in full pontifical attire. 

Now the Pope was too far away in Rome, while 
Charles was not many leagues off, so, despite the strict 
interdiction of the letter and the fearful penalties 
threatened, the frightened prelate understood the lesser 
of the two dangers to be the more distant one and de¬ 
cided to proceed with both crowning and anointing. 
And a lucky fellow he was, that this fear of the Swedes 
got the better of his scruples, for Radziejowski fell sick 
and died of annoyances while the Archbishop succeeded 
174 


THE PACTA CONVENTA 


him in the primacy and fat livings. And as for crown 
jewels, Charles was not going to stand upon such trifles, 
nor, for the matter of that, make a king without a real 
crown; so Horn was instructed to order in Warsaw 
crowns garnished with jewels as well as sceptres and 
apples of massive gold, and also costly clothes and other 
belongings. These were indeed busy days for the Jews. 

At this time there arrived Count Potocki, Palatine of 
Kiovia, with all his troops, among whom there were 
eight hundred Kalmuck Tartars. Their flat and horrible 
faces and strange manner of living afforded our army’ 
not a little wonder and entertainment. They had also 
horses as ugly and deformed as themselves, but so 
admirable for speed and work that King Charles and the 
little Prince and several among our rich officers pur¬ 
chased great numbers of them at forty to fifty ducats a 
head. But I am delaying the account of the coronation. 

When the senators and deputies had prepared the 
Pacta Conventa , Stanislaus first repaired, on the eve of 
his coronation, to the Church of St. John, where he swore 
the solemn observance of it. For this purpose he had 
set out from the great palace of the Bielinski, where he 
was lodging, the coaches of the palatines and deputies 
having commenced the procession, followed by those 
of the bishops and senators, the lifeguards coming last 
and immediately preceding Stanislaus. The Arch¬ 
bishop, now forgetful of his earlier fear, went forward to 
the altar in his pontifical robes. As soon as he had read 
the Pacta Conventa and the formulary of the oaths, 
Stanislaus repeats them upon his knees, word for word. 

The following day being the great day, their majesties, 

175 



CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

Stanislaus and his spouse, repaired to the castle incog . 
They had now fasted for three days in order properly to 
prepare themselves for the solemnity of the coronation 
as well as the receiving of the blessed sacraments. While 
the senators and deputies and nobles were assembling 
in the church, the King was armed at all points and over 
his shoulders was thrown a Polish mantle of red velvet, 
lined with sable. The Queen was dressed like a bride, 
in white and cloth of silver, with her hair unbraided and 
flowing down her back, while upon her head and breast 
were jewels of rare value. At every gate of the church 
was posted a guard of Swedes in the pleasant company 
of a Polish officer, so that all who requested admission 
might be examined fittingly. 

In the choir opposite the high altar was there erected 
an estrade , on which were placed the two thrones be¬ 
neath high canopies, and all around the same, were the 
great Swedish officers and grandees and Polish deputies. 
Three elbow-chairs were placed to one side, and as it 
were out of observation, which chairs were for the King 
of Sweden and the Princes of Wurtemberg and Mecklen¬ 
burg, and there were also seats for Count Piper and cer¬ 
tain other of the finest Swedish lords. Opposite them 
was there also another balcony, where sat Madame 
Royale, the King’s mother, and certain other ladies of 
the highest quality. And all this mighty company being 
thus happily placed, each according to his position upon 
earth, the procession started from their majesties’ apart¬ 
ments, amid rows of flambeaux, with the new regalia all 
borne on cushions of cloth of silver; and also was there 
borne the standard of the kingdom. 

176 


CORONATION OF STANISLAUS 


As soon as the first in the procession entered the 
church, the music began from two galleries, increasing 
gradually as the King approached, until the whole 
band were in their full concert at the moment His 
Polish Majesty appeared. The Archbishop being seated 
before the altar, the Bishop of Camineck addressed the 
following words to him in Latin: “Our Holy Mother 
Church desires that this valiant knight, elected King, 
should be crowned.” Thereupon the Archbishop de¬ 
mands, “Is he worthy? Does he design to fulfill his 
duty?” And the Bishop answers, “Yes, he is very 
worthy, and he will fulfill it.” 

The King’s armor having been sore heavy, he was 
mighty glad of the noblemen who supported him under 
the arms. These now took off the King’s helmet; he 
then kissed the Bishop’s ring and pronounced the oath. 
The Archbishop, having bared his head, fell upon his 
knees as did likewise the other ecclesiastics, and the 
King fell upon the pavement, stretching out his arms 
so as to make the sign of the cross with his body. There¬ 
upon the King’s mantle and gauntlets were taken off, 
and he felt more at his ease. Then the Archbishop, with 
the thumb of his right hand anointed the palm of the 
King’s right hand and his elbow and the back of his 
neck, at the same time pronouncing these words: “I 
anoint thee King, in the name of the Father, the Son 
and the Holy Ghost.” Afterwards the Archbishop wiped 
his thumb with bread and washed himself, while a 
bishop dried the King with bread and cotton. 

His Majesty was then conducted to the vestry, where 
he changed his military habit for an episcopal robe all 
177 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

white, which he was to keep as long as he lived, it being 
to serve for his winding sheet, as King John before him 
had been interred in his coronation robes. After this the 
King was again led back to the altar, where the Arch¬ 
bishop presented him with a drawn sword, which His 
Majesty gave to his sword-bearer, who returned it into 
the scabbard and hung it at His Majesty’s side, who 
then drew it again, and after making several military 
flourishes to signify how it ought to be used, sheathed 
it once more. 

And now, when the Queen also had been crowned and 
anointed, the Te Deum was sung and the Grand Mass 
was celebrated, whereupon all shouted lustily, “Long 
live the King and Queen! ” After disrobing, the ambas¬ 
sadors, disrobed before, called upon the King and Queen 
and the Queen Mother, whereupon, King Charles hav¬ 
ing returned to Blonie, all sat down to feast, each seated 
according to his rank. But Prince Sobieski and the lady 
mother would absent themselves, for they liked not to 
sit at table below the Swedish ambassadors. 

All this had been watched with but little pleasure by 
either Augustus or Peter. Truly it stank in their nos¬ 
trils, as did also the peace which was now concluded be¬ 
tween Sweden and Poland. 

But the worst was yet to come. At Grodno Augustus 
and Peter had once more sworn friendship. While they 
were feasting and plotting, Rehnskold won the most 
glorious of victories in West Prussia, putting Mus¬ 
covites and Saxons again to flight with their tails be¬ 
tween their legs. This was at Fraustadt of glorious 
memory. The Saxon generals, knowing well our con- 
178 


FRAUSTADT 


tempt for the Muscovites, turned dht the red linings of 
their coats so that they might look like Saxon foot. — 
“Down with everything” 1 was the Saxon battle-cry, 
while ours was “With God’s help.” Rehnskold, under¬ 
standing that, with no artillery whatever, his brave boys 
in blue could stand no long fight, determined upon a 
rapid and furious attack. He spoke to his commanders of 
horse, explaining unto them where lay their only safety, 
then recommending them unto God’s help, told them 
how, upon the command of “ Down,” they should alight 
from the charge and attempt to take the enemy’s can¬ 
non in hand-to-hand fight. Thereupon Rehnskold or¬ 
dered prayer, and after “Ein’ feste Burg” had been 
sung, the horsemen plunged ahead, with the blue and 
yellow streamers. 

Ere three hours were spent, every Saxon and Mus¬ 
covite cannon was trained upon the fleeing allies and 
the day of glory and renown had been won for the Lion 
of the North, and twenty-nine battalions were captured 
or hewn to pieces. While unto the Saxons was shown 
mercy, not so did it fare with their Muscovite allies, 
whose white coats shewed their crimson linings. They 
were all gathered before our front and shot to pieces, so 
that it was a sorry sight to behold. How great was the 
joy of King Charles may be seen, for he must write unto 
his general: — 

General: — 

It is a right gallant affront you have made the former King 
of Poland. You must have felt bravely proud when you 
stormed ahead without respect for the cannonade or aught in 


1 Macht dies nieder. 

179 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

the path of your horse. I can now no longer delay in wishing 
the General much happiness in the stout and great action 
which the General led against the Saxon. It is surely so com¬ 
plete and brave a victory which our Lord has this time given 
that it cannot be greater. And I rejoice above all bounds, 
that the General and the good regiments have had the pleas¬ 
ure of enjoying so fierce and happy a game. The enemy have 
a few times received a drubbing from our side. I have now 
no more time to write, but must with haste end my letter. 

I remain the General’s well-disposed 

Carolus. 

Rehnskold was made field-marshal and elevated to be 
a count. A well-deserved reward for this great soldier, 
not alone brave in leading his troops upon the field of 
battle, but great in the planning and carrying out of 
his campaigns. Thorough in his knowledge, highly edu¬ 
cated, kindly and well-meaning, with the interests of his 
soldiers always at heart, he had also the self-restraint 
and obedience to execute his master's orders, when he 
heartily disapproved of them and believed they would 
bring disaster. A perfect warrior, happy to share with 
the humblest in his army every privation and weary 
effort. 

Many others were promoted also, and for myself I 
think I might have had what I pleased and indeed did 
have all that I wished. Charles professed himself well 
pleased for some service I rendered, which I need not 
set down here, but he called it one of exceptional brav¬ 
ery. That night when all had left his tent but me, 
he turned to me with his rare grave smile. 

“Well, Klingspor,” says he, “art thou pleased to be 
colonel of drabants, or wouldst thou rather be a general 
of brigade?" 

180 


THE KING’S OFFER DECLINED 


“ Your Majesty/’ says I, “ there is more than one of 
your generals of brigade that would change his condi¬ 
tion for mine, for indeed I have had the offer.” 

“And what is your mind?” 

“I am of their mind too,” says I, “for no such offer 
have I accepted, nor would I.” 

“Remember then,” says he, “if ever the time comes 
when there is a command that thou wouldst have, thou 
hast but to ask it.” 

“Indeed Your Majesty,” says I, “I have nought to 
ask for myself, but for my son and my family Your 
Majesty’s protecting care.” 

“They have it ever, Klingspor,” says he; and at that 
time no more was said, but his last word then was the 
true one, for so long as His Majesty lived we felt always 
his bounty and protection. And there were comrades of 
mine who, learning of the offer the King had made me, 
told me that I had thrown away with my left hand the 
luck that I had grasped with my right; but I have no 
such thought for, saving a rank that would have been 
unfitting to a plain soldier like myself, I could have had 
nought higher than at the time I did have. I say not 
but that if His Majesty’s life had been longer I might 
have risen higher, but my sorrow is not for that, but only 
for the untimely ending of my royal master’s brilliant 


career. 


CHAPTER XII 

INVASION OF SAXONY 

And now comes a new turn in our affairs, and to the 
astonished and terrified Europe a new and unexpected 
scene on the stage of our wars. For the mountain being 
unwilling to come unto Mahomet, Mahomet decided 
to go to the mountain; or to speak without phrases, 
King Charles decided to march right into the Kingdom 
of Saxony. Once again were the bugles of Sweden and 
the Protestant hymns to sound across the battlefields of 
Germany; and the Roman Empire, as well as each little 
German state, was to look with apprehension upon 
coming events. 

Before we turned however to the fleshpots of Saxony, 
we were to have a sorry winter, for there was but 
little of either victuals or forage, and the season be¬ 
gan to look sourly upon us. The little Prince said 
that “Hunger war Koch und Mangel war Kellner. ,, 
Brandy, mead, butter and beer became more and more 
scarce. The miserable peasants dug their food down 
into the earth and then fled to some far-off region ere 
we reached their habitations and were able to question 
them. So we must find them by putting to good use 
divers curiously wrought swords and pikes with hooks 
and holes in their points, with which we poked in the 
ground where it looked suspicious. And when they drew 
out straw, there would we know was a hidden supply. 
182 


HUNGER AND FOUL WEATHER 

We found meat and pork, butter, tallow, honey, wax, 
mead, and brandy, cups and brass, all manner of 
clothes, linen, wheat, rye, corn and oats. 

Especially when the thaw came on, at which times the 
snow melted from off these vaulted caverns, did we find 
wherewithal to keep us alive. But even then the great 
difficulty of finding these provisions was exceeded by 
the danger attending the discovery to those who de¬ 
scended, at the instant the cells were opened. Such 
abundance of vapors immediately belched forth with 
steam as killed numbers of our brave and starving peo¬ 
ple, till fatal experience taught them to wait with pa¬ 
tience, despite the gnawing at their vitals, until such 
time as the vapors were dispersed and they might thus 
feed without suffocation surprising them first. 

My memory of this time is a confused thought of 
swamps and nasty, wet weather. We had to our camp 
nought but muddy huts roofed with green branches, 
which had served us well enough for protection from 
burning sun or the pestilent night air, but for such tor¬ 
rents of rain as we had they were worse than useless, 
being ever flooded and half the time unbearable. The 
King had scarce better for himself, as ever he shared 
what fortune came to his soldiers. He had indeed a tent 
to himself and a cook tent for his kitchen, but his tent 
was always damp and cold, though his attendants tried 
their best to warm it with round shot heated in our 
fires and brought into the tent; but the heat that they 
gave out was less to be noticed than was the unendurable 
stench of the hot iron, and the smoke from such bits of 
the fire as always clung to them. The tent used as 
183 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

kitchen, too, was so far from the King’s tent that never 
came hot food to his table, but always stone cold, and 
indeed with my own eyes I have seen frost on his meat 
or a skim of ice over his soup or his beer. But all this he 
seemed scarce to know, for he ate his food heedlessly as 
always, and never by any word took note of whether it 
were cold or hot. 

It was in March of this year, that is, 170b, that there 
befell one of the most terrifying of the numerous acci¬ 
dents of which I have to tell, in which His Majesty so 
nearly lost the life on which so much depended. Grodno 
was to be besieged, and to that end a bridge was to be 
built across the river Niemen; for the ice was too rotten 
to bear us and our artillery, though it would hold in 
most places any ordinary weight, and it was our habit to 
walk out upon it to observe the building of the bridge. 

At one such time His Majesty had gone forward some 
dozen or two of paces beyond where stood the little 
Prince, Klinckowstrom with other officers, and I. I was 
watching the bringing forward of some timbers when 
suddenly the Prince said close behind me, “In the name 
of God! the King has gone down!” 

We turned around and ran together toward the hole 
where the rotten place in the ice had let the King down, 
but the ice cracking about us warned us back. Then the 
King’s head and his hand appeared through the black 
water at the edge of the hole, and he clung to the edge 
of the ice, for the current was sucking him under right 
strongly. A page called to him and asked if he could 
hold while we went for some means to reach him, and 
he answered that he could for a brief time, but that we 
184 


THE KING’S NARROW ESCAPE 


should make haste or he would either be frozen or 
sucked under the ice; and this he said calmly enough as 
if he were speaking of some ordinary matter. We turned 
then to find some plank or other means to save him, 
but the Prince and Wachtmeister, being light of weight, 
fetched about from different sides and crept toward him 
from over the rotten ice. The Prince reaching him 
first, caught him by the scabbard of his sword, but it 
gave way, and more I saw not, for I was seeking for a 
plank. When I came back they had him out, and Sten- 
bock was begging him to change his clothes; but that he 
scorned and rode back to his quarters a full Swedish 
mile through the biting March wind whereby he was 
none the worse. 

He did not stop in his canter until he came upon a 
sadly wounded captain, stretched upon the ground after 
an encounter with our outposts. His left arm had been 
hewn from its socket and life was ebbing fast. This of¬ 
ficer, by name Busanville, was a Frenchman. His Maj¬ 
esty addressed several questions to him in the French 
tongue, as it seemed all the poor fellow was capable of 
understanding in his last moments. Seeing our King 
must be an officer in authority, the Frenchman an¬ 
swered his questioning with the spirit becoming a sol¬ 
dier and a gentleman of his nation. In his turn, he asked 
if the King of Sweden had been near the action in which 
he had received his fatal wound, adding that he would 
die quite happy if he but might see this great prince. 

The King then made himself known, whereupon the 
officer raised with much effort his remaining hand to 
salute and said with an air of great satisfaction these 

185 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


words: “I have desired for many years to enter the ser¬ 
vice of Your Majesty, but fate has willed that I should 
serve against so valiant a prince. Words now fail me. 
May God bless Your Majesty and give unto your under¬ 
takings all the success you so richly deserve.” There¬ 
upon he expired before our eyes. And he was buried in 
the church of the near-by cloister with all the honors of 
war at the expense of our King. For the captain had 
spoken well and died bravely. 

Not so did it fare with the Russian prisoners who had 
surrendered unto us that day in a most cowardly man¬ 
ner. For the same night they were lighted out from our 
camp with torches, after half their clothes had been cut 
off them as well as half of the hair had been shaven from 
off their heads. They had also been given a white ban¬ 
ner of shame without device, which had been dipped in 
manure. 

And here would I digress, for I am reminded of brave 
Svante Horn, who also fared so sorrily at this time. 
He had but a short time since gone into the wood ac¬ 
companied by twenty-four horse in search of forage. 
Surprised by over two hundred Poles, they fought for 
seven hours. Every Swede fell, Horn alone returning 
to camp so covered with gore that we knew him not 
until with snow we had washed him white again. At 
Fraustadt where he had followed hard upon Rehnskold’s 
heels, Horn was so badly hewn in the head that fourteen 
splinters of bone must be removed by the surgeon, all 
of which he bore with the patience of a watching cat. 
The following year — for I might as well relate his ca¬ 
reer until its close — he was fallen upon at his post in 
186 


SVANTE HORN 


Lithuania by a band of Kalmucks, who beat him with 
a club on the head so that the blood squirted out of his 
eyes and his nose, and through the drums of his ears. 
And to make sure, the Kalmucks thrust a sword in his 
chest and pricked his stomach-bag with a pike. He was 
left for dead, which he well-nigh was, and one would 
have believed he had received enough. Not at all. His 
faithful servant, Daniel Lidbom, found him, and hearing 
to his unspeakable joy some faint groans, poured wine 
and milk into his master through the opening of a tooth 
that had been knocked out of his mouth well-nigh 
swollen together. Albeit his wounded and shattered 
body might now need peace and rest, he dragged him¬ 
self after the army, and, though almost lame on one 
side, he must take his part in the great charge at Pol¬ 
tava, steadied by riding close up to a comrade for sup¬ 
port upon the side that was stiff. Here his right leg was 
crushed. So Horn and Lidbom went to Siberia for 
thirteen years, where the master made baskets while 
the servant became a saddler. Coming home at last, 
Horn settled in Smaland. He was weak in body, but 
not yet forty, and right glad when he, in 1741, heard there 
was once more war with the Muscovite. For many years 
more he fought them, and Daniel, become more com¬ 
rade than servant, was always by his side. He must al¬ 
ways sit by the colonel’s right side at table, however fine 
the company might be. He is still honored and jovial, 
but of strict virtue and great fear of God. 1 Of such stuff 
were the Carolines made. 

1 Svante Horn fought the Russians steadily from 1741 to 1771 —dying 
finally in his eighty-second year. — Ed. 


CHAPTER XIII 

ALTRANSTADT 

And now, with the breaking of spring, we came unto 
the vast lakes and bogs of Volhynia, where we found 
many a bear and stag and turtle, and all manner of 
water-birds, such as cranes, swans, wild geese and ducks. 
The crawfish had claws of a monstrous length. The in¬ 
habitants gathered them in great numbers and, upon 
drying, ground them into meal, of which they as well as 
their household animals ate with avidity. And I no¬ 
ticed with much curiosity that when their hens ate of it, 
they laid eggs more red than yellow; after having tried 
them upon the stomachs of our captive soldiers without 
their even producing among them a looseness of the 
bowels, we also ate of them with much delectation. 

Once across these marshy regions, we came into a 
paradise of corn, the golden racks dotting the fields to 
our enraptured eyes. In the woods likewise, we found 
rosemary, asparagus, pulse and various wild fruits, which 
were little inferior to those cultivated by art. 

With their dead the inhabitants seemed to have all 
manner of strange customs and tomfooleries. It was 
laughable to observe and listen to the wailing over the 
corpse. Before burial, it would be placed in a chamber. 
Then when a neighbor came to see the dead, and the 
room wherein the body lay would be opened and the 
cloth removed from the face, the family would begin a 
188 


A BARBAROUS PEOPLE 


most frightful howling, which, withal, had in it some 
melody. They shrieked close into the ears of the dead 
and stroked the face, asking all manner of questions. 
Why had he died? Had he not had enough to eat and 
drink or sufficient clothing? Had not his wife cooked as 
she ought to or waited well upon him? Had she not been 
unto him sufficiently beautiful, young, and faithful? 
And as soon as the corpse once more was covered, would 
the family dry their tears and laugh and dance merrily 
together, letting out the smoke of the hut and letting 
in the swine. For this was the nature of their huts and 
the custom of their country, at which all of us laughed, 
and the little Prince often complained right bitterly. 
Houses that were shown to us as those of nobles were 
common places of habitation for men, women, children, 
cows, horses, pigs, ducks, geese and chickens. If the 
weather were anything cold, all these were shut in to¬ 
gether, and how they died not from the stench is more 
than I can guess. 

The Prince told us in bitter mood, though we laughed 
at him for it, how all one night he must keep a sentry at 
his door with fixed bayonet to protect him from an old 
sow and her litter of pigs whom he had driven out from 
the room in which he would sleep; and though the sentry 
served to keep out the pigs, he was of no avail for the 
smell of them. In each house was a huge stove built, as 
I recall, of some sort of earthenware and often glazed. 
In this they would build a huge fire which would fill the 
house no less with smoke than with heat, and though 
there were in the walls smoke-holes with sliding covers 
to close them, these would not be opened for fear that 
189 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

the heat would go out with the smoke. When the fire 
had sufficiently died down, then would all the inhabit¬ 
ants of the hut climb on top of the stove to sleep in 
its warmth. 

By roads that wound amid these lakes and swamps 
and their dirty and ill-smelling towns, we came at last 
to the river Bug, which we had thought to cross on the 
ice, but through the lateness of the season or the long 
hard rains the ice had weakened, and this the first 
horseman who rode on it discovered to his cost, for 
horse and man fell through and were swept away under 
the ice by the current; and thereto were we right glad 
that it was not the King, who often went first at such 
times. 

That day was a crisp winter day without rain, good 
freezing weather, though there had not been enough 
to strengthen the ice. This the King thought to do by 
artificial means before sun down. To this end he spread 
a broad path of straw across the river on the ice from 
shore to shore. For men working singly on foot the ice 
would hold. This straw he wet freely, hoping that by 
morning it would freeze, which indeed it did, so the next 
day we did the same thing again and found it strong 
enough to hold a great weight. Cautiously then we 
began our crossing and got over well enough, save that 
near the shores, belike from the warmth of the earth, 
the ice of our bridge crumbled now and again, and 
some men were lost by falling into the water and being 
sucked under the ice. Others went floating down the 
river on the cakes of ice which had broken off. Some 
came soon ashore; others were carried out of sight 
190 


CROSSING THE ODER 


around the bend below, and I know not when they 
came ashore, if ever. 

But I must leave behind these strange people and 
their customs, for we resumed our march in the month 
of May, in the year of our Lord 1706, even as the great 
battle of Ramillies was being so valiantly fought on the 
other side of the great empire. 

It was August 22 in the afternoon, for I have a note 
of it in my diary, that we drabants with His Majesty 
at our head, far in advance of the army, came to the 
bank of the Oder. The river flowed swift and therewith 
black and forbidding though it was a bright summer 
day. As we halted on the bank I told off a reconnais¬ 
sance party to seek a bridge; but the King counter¬ 
manded the order, and spurring his horse down the 
bank, splashed into the stream to swim across. I feared 
the swiftness of the current, but I knew that remon¬ 
strance was of no avail. I followed therefore, as did our 
whole squadron, in the hope that, if aught befell the 
King, there would be those of us who might help him. 
But the current was not so swift as I had thought, and 
squadron after squadron we swam our horses safely 
across. Later they found both a bridge and a ford not 
far from where we crossed, so that we delayed not at 
the river. 

Five days’ march beyond the Oder we came into 
Augustus’s electorate. There nought pleased us so 
much as the richness and the prosperity of the country 
— the clean white roads winding on the green pastures 
and rich fields of grain; in truth it was a very paradise 
after the country that we had been through. Our arrival 
191 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


was like a thunderbolt from a clear sky, not only to 
Saxony but to all Europe, as we learned in time, for all 
were astounded at the speed with which we had made 
our long march and knew not what fate to expect, for 
they feared each for himself, and Saxony most of all 
thought to share the fate of Poland. Great was the 
terror of the Saxon populace. From their grandparents 
they had heard of the demolition of Wiirzen and Pirna 
and the quartering of the Swedes during thirty long 
years. Still were the storm-bells of the cities named 
“Swedebells,” and the songs with which children were 
frightened into obedience, “Swedesongs.” The country 
abounded with infamous writings against the person 
of our virtue-loving monarch. 

Augustus had played his last card. In haste he must 
now despatch Baron Imhof and the Councillor von 
Pfingsten to sue for peace on any terms. Blank were the 
full powers they were given to fill out as best they might, 
according to the will and pleasure of our gracious King. 
Such was now Sweden’s might! And the Ambassadors 
assured our Charles that their King had been deceived 
and led back of the light by evil counsellors, but that 
he now earnestly berued his mistakes and ardently de¬ 
sired a heart’s reconciliation and loving friendship with 
His Majesty of Sweden. 

The burghers of Leipzig, full anxious for their rich 
city, and the merchants congregated from far and 
wide for the seven weeks of their great market, came 
out and knelt with humble supplication before the King. 
And right disappointed was I, as also my comrades 
among our officers, that we were not to tarry in the city 
192 


THE GAIETY OF LEIPZIG 


Leipzig, in which we had either seen such wonders or 
else read thereof. For here at this annual market 
was the place of assembly for everybody of quality in 
Northern Europe. And since Augustus had become 
King of Poland, the Polish magnates did also join the 
merry throng, appearing with much splendor, while the 
beautiful and lively Polish ladies gave the dances a new 
and more lively tempo. Augustus himself, when present, 
was surrounded by a great guard of janissaries most 
curiously dressed in red and white. And these guards¬ 
men were said to entrance the mob by their music of 
brass cymbals, drums and copper trumpets. Likewise 
were there operas given at the hostelry of “ The Three 
Swans/’ and in French upon the high command of the 
King. These I knew from friends to be attended every 
afternoon at five o’clock by the German and Polish 
lords and other persons of quality, after which they 
went in most beautiful “gala” to the redoubt 1 arranged 
in the merchants’ exchange. 

Of other distractions in this lovely city, there were 
also a great number. One could in fact find there the 
most remarkable things from all over Europe. There 
were, I know, fights d Vanglaise , between two bears and 
a bull, to which the spectators might bring their dogs, 
in order to loose them upon the beasts when they were 
exhausted fighting. And of course the barking of the 
dogs awaiting their fun added to the general merriment 
of the entertainment. There might also be seen wax ef¬ 
figies of the King of France, of the great Mogul and 
other mighty potentates, and dancers upon the tight 
1 A fashionable assemblage or reception. 

193 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

rope, who in the open air performed their exercises won¬ 
derfully. Here was also the most wonderful of all 
animals which had never before been seen in Europe, 
that is, the hippopotamus or horse of the Nile. He had 
hoofs like unto an ox, and one knows of him that when 
he becomes too full-blooded and fat and afraid that he 
will turn sick, he goes into the water. When at last, 
after diligent search, he has found a sharp thorn, he 
pricks a huge blood-vessel and bleeds himself, until he 
feels so relieved and happy he will frisk about and 
jump. Thereupon the wise hippopotamus stops the 
bleeding with eelgrass and soft mosses. 

During the evenings in Leipzig, many torches are 
lighted and many gilded chairs are carried through the 
streets. It swarms with masks in the market-places, 
and mixing with the happy, care-free voices, are the 
brawls of the drunkards, the scraping of viols and the 
sounds of sweet flutes. 

“Sachs, Bayer, Schwab, Frank, 

Die lieben all den Trank.” 

Alas, all this was to be left behind! 

As was Charles’s wont, he set not up his residence in 
this city, beautiful with its turrets and walls, but a few 
leagues therefrom, in the old castle of the hamlet of 
Altranstadt, near the field of Llitzen, so glorious 
through its victory and the hero who had fallen there. 
To this castle, having quartered our troops, the King 
rode out with no attendant but myself. As we came to 
the gate the porter opened it promptly and courteously, 
but not so obsequiously as to show that he knew who his 
visitor was. So the King sent word to the Count Hohen- 
194 


CONFUSION OF THE COUNTESS 

thiel that he was come to request quarters at the castle 
for the King of Sweden, and therewith we were ushered 
into the presence of the count and his lady, in one of 
the small drawing-rooms off the great hall. They re¬ 
ceived us with respect and courtesy as officers of His 
Majesty’s army, but it was plain enough that they knew 
not the King. His Majesty had no mind to enlighten 
them, and I saw from his smile that he greatly enjoyed 
the joke. 

The count and the lady professed themselves flat¬ 
tered at the opportunity to receive His Majesty, and in¬ 
quired most anxiously what sort of quarters he would 
wish. The King declared that His Majesty wanted for 
himself no more than a small bedroom, however humble, 
but that he would wish a larger room adjoining or near 
by for his chancellery. The countess asked most particu¬ 
larly about household arrangements for the King and 
his suite, and being told of the simplicity of the King’s 
taste, found it hard to believe, and commented there¬ 
upon to her husband with a freedom she would never 
have used had she known to whom she was speaking. 

At last when she had learned all else, she inquired 
when His Majesty would arrive. “He is here,” says the 
King, whereat the lady’s confusion was comical to be¬ 
hold and greatly to the King’s diversion. 

Our King’s first act was to ride to the very spot where 
his great sire fell. 1 There he drew rein and said unto 
his generals as they all bared their heads, “ I have tried 
to live like unto him: may God in His great mercy, 
some day grant me even such a glorious death.” These 
1 Gustavus Adolphus II. Nov. 6, 1632. — Ed. 

195 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

words burned into the hearts of those that listened 
thereto. 

And now when King Charles was about ready to name 
his just conditions, there came the dastardly news that 
General Mardefeldt, whom King Charles had left be¬ 
hind in Poland with twenty-five hundred men, had 
been surrounded by a great body of Muscovites and 
Saxons; that seven hundred Swedes were left upon the 
battlefield and the remaining eighteen hundred were 
prisoners of the great allied horde. 

Augustus was in a sorry pickle, between the devil and 
the deep blue sea. For fear of the Muscovites and his 
Polish subjects, he durst not apprize them of the peace 
he was about to conclude with the Swedes until he 
had withdrawn sufficiently from their embarrassing com¬ 
pany and land. 

The allies, seeing so rare an opportunity to fall upon 
Mardefeldt’s small detachment and he himself burning 
for a fight whate’er the odds against him, poor Au¬ 
gustus knew no other way, except secretly to despatch 
couriers unto Mardefeldt and apprize him of the im¬ 
pending peace, begging him for the love of God to with¬ 
draw. The distraught Augustus further declared which 
roads would be clear and open to the Swedes. But 
Mardefeldt, having heard naught from his King except 
the command to fight like the devil incarnate whenever 
the opportunity might offer or be made, answered Au¬ 
gustus that he believed not his trickery. It thus fared 
with King Augustus as with the fox in the fable, when 
he wished to be honest and could gain no trust. 

So the Swedes fought, and, even Augustus confessed, 
196 


CONDITIONS OF THE PEACE 


would have conquered had not their Polish allies turned 
tail and run, leaving the Swedish flanks all exposed 
where the fighting raged the hardest. The Saxon Am¬ 
bassadors were nigh fit for bedlam, so great was their 
anguish at the unhappy turn affairs had taken. Quickly 
did Augustus leave his allies behind, buying from them 
all of their prisoners and sending them to our camp with 
all manner of polite compliment. 

At last, in the month of September, the great peace 
was signed, though for some time the conditions were 
not published, in order that King Augustus might de¬ 
ceive his good Muscovite ally, and finger the goodly 
sum of money expected from the Muscovites, before the 
secret became known. The printers in Dresden, when 
they read the terms, durst not for shame and the con¬ 
sequences print the articles of peace. But our dragoons 
soon came to their relief. 

The ambassadors were in the King’s chamber await¬ 
ing his final answer. “Gentlemen,” said Charles, “you 
shall have it in a moment.” 

Then Charles withdrew into his cabinet, but return¬ 
ing shortly, ordered read aloud, that the King of Sweden 
would give peace on the following conditions: — 

First: That King Augustus renounce forever the crown of 
Poland; that he recognize Stanislaus as legitimate King, and 
that Augustus promise never to think of reascending the 
Polish throne, no, not even in case of King Stanislaus’s death. 

Secondly: That King Augustus declare void all treaties, and 
most especially those made with the Muscovite. 

Thirdly: That he send with honor unto the Swedish camp 
the Princes of the House of Sobieski, and all prisoners he has 
ever taken. 


197 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

Fourthly: That he deliver up all deserters which have passed 
into his service, and especially Johan Patkul, and that he 
cease all procedure against those of his army which have 
passed over to the Swedish. 

As they left the royal presence, their hearts as stones 
within them, we could but say with the Prophet, ‘ ‘ Blessed 
be the name of the Lord for ever and ever; he removeth 
kings and setteth up kings.” 

The peace was soon, though secretly, ratified, where¬ 
upon Charles, never lacking in kingly courtesy, wrote 
in this manner to Augustus, in reply to a letter in which 
Augustus had assured him that the crown of Poland 
was of no value to him, compared with the friendship 
of his cousin: — 


Altranstadt, October 24, 1706. 

Serenest and Almighty King: 

Friendly and much beloved Cousin, Brother and 
Neighbor! 

It has been no little cause of dissatisfaction unto me, that 
until now I have lain in misunderstanding with so near a 
relation and so close a friend. 

Now, however, I experience all the greater joy and satis¬ 
faction, since Your Majesty so genuinely declares that Your 
Majesty desires the resumption of complete friendship and 
confidence, and there is opened unto me the opportunity 
I have desired to render Your Majesty proof of my con¬ 
stant friendship, which in earlier times has not been afforded 
me. 

I have thus in detail expressed myself to Your Majesty’s 
Ministers who have handed me your valued letter, and I fur¬ 
ther assure Your Majesty that I shall ever exert myself to 
show my devotion and will constantly remain 

Your Majesty’s most friendly disposed Cousin and brother, 

Carolus. 


198 


A BITTER PILL 


The bitterest pill of all which Augustus must perforce 
swallow was the letter he must despatch, after much 
urging, to Stanislaus. Thus it read: — 

“Monsieur et Fr£re,— 

Nous avions jug£ qu’il n’ 4 tait pas n6cessaire d’entrer dans 
un commerce particulier de lettres avec Votre Majesty; 
cependant, pour faire plaisir k sa Majeste Su£doise, et afin 
qu’on ne nous impute pas que nous faisons difficult^ de sat- 
isfaire k son desir, nous vous felicitons par celle-ci de votre 
av6nement k la couronne, et nous souhaitons que vous trou- 
viez dans votre pa trie des sujets plus fideles que ceux que 
nous y avons laisses. 

Tout le monde nous fera la justice de croire que nous 
n’avons et6 payes que d’ingratitude pour tous nos bienfaits, et 
que la plupart de nos sujets ne se sont appliques qu’a avancer 
notre ruine. Nous souhaitons que vous ne soyez pas expose 4 
de pareils malheurs, vous remettant k la protection de Dieu. 

Monsieur mon frere, 

Votre bon fr&re et voisin, 

Auguste, Roi. 1 

The despatch of such a note was indeed draining the 
bitter cup to its very dregs and swallowing the last 
crust of humble pie. But not without reason did this 

1 Sire, My Brother: 

In our judgment there was no necessity of our entering into a private 
correspondence with Your Majesty; nevertheless to please His Swedish 
Majesty, and that it may not be imputed to us that we make a difficulty 
of complying with his demands, we congratulate Your Majesty by these 
presents on your coming to the crown, and we wish at the same time that 
you may find in your country more faithful and obedient subjects than 
those whom we left there. All the world will do us the justice to own 
that all our kindnesses, all our indefatigable cares, have been repaid only 
with ingratitude, and that the greatest part of our subjects made it their 
whole business to form parties against us to our ruin. 

Recommending Your Majesty to the Divine protection, we wish you may 
not be exposed to a like reverse of fortune. 

Sire, my brother, 

Your good brother and neighbor, 

Augustus, R. 


199 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

proud monarch speak in these terms of his relations 
with his turbulent Polish subjects. As a last pleasant 
reminder of his kingship, it was suggested to him, in 
unmistakable language, that he forthwith return into 
the royal treasury the regalia and precious stones he had 
deemed it prudent to transport into the safe keeping of 
his fortress of Konigstein. 

How gladly would we now have returned unto the 
dear Swedish shores, where the white birches with their 
emerald leaves were mirroring themselves in the waters 
beneath them! Indeed our hearts yearned to return 
to our fatherland after so many years of fighting and 
marches. But alas, our beloved Monarch lent but a deaf 
ear unto every advance of the Muscovite emissaries, 
and would listen neither to the good Englishman, Robin¬ 
son, nor to our own Piper. Having made Augustus 
harmless, he must in his own silent heart turn his 
thoughts unto the Turks and the Kossacks and the 
crushing of the Muscovite with their assistance. Here 
was a second Alexander, which had sprung up ’mid the 
northern snows. 

But what availed us all our hankering? We com¬ 
mon folk and soldiers did not presume to have thoughts 
and opinions in great matters of state, and we all were 
but obedient subjects of our great King, given unto 
him by God for him to do with as he in his wisdom 
deemed fit. Nevertheless we could not but sigh for our 
homes, despite the fat rations and good pay that now 
made both purse and belly swell. Why, even the com¬ 
mon soldier received two pounds of meat, three pounds 
of bread, a measure of green goods, half a pound of fat 


200 


CONDUCT AND DISCIPLINE 

Or butter, and therewith three cans of beer a day. Full 
royal fare was this, for the dogs who had grown lean 
and mangy in six years of hard toil. 

Strict and decent were, however, the orders which 
were given unto our soldiers that they should be a pride 
rather than a reproach unto our nation; and here when 
all Europe was gazing with wonder upon the gallant 
army which had emerged from the wild life of years 
of victory, they might also speak of the boys in blue 
as models in times of peace. 

So King Charles issued orders that all hunting as well 
within as without woods and fields and parks was ab¬ 
solutely forbidden, and all fishing with nets, as likewise 
the gathering of fruits in the gardens and the vineyards, 
without immediate payment for what was so taken. 
And everyone was further strictly charged to forbear 
beating his host or his host’s domestics or doing them 
any kind of injury, much less to rob or pillage in the 
public roads or private lanes, in the streets or inns of the 
towns or villages or to commit any other violence what¬ 
ever. Certificates of decent behavior in the soldiers 
were to be procured by the officers of each regiment 
from the Saxon housekeepers and bailiffs and chief offi¬ 
cers of each village where our men were quartered. 
Indeed, the conduct of our soldiers became so excellent 
that the Saxon housewives need no longer place the 
latchet upon the door, and a common soldier quartered 
in a peasant’s hut might share the room with the daugh¬ 
ter, and in smiling at her from his couch mean naught 
but friendly recognition. If one of our men stole or in 
aught infringed the regulations, he was forthwith shot, 


201 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


while the one wronged was given the clothes from off 
his body and his goods within the house. 

The terms of peace were carried out instanter. The 
Princes Sobieski were fetched in much state and honor 
from their fortress, and both King Charles and King 
Stanislaus made much of their Highnesses. And King 
Augustus restored all of which he had deprived them, 
thus atoning for their many and grievous wrongs. They 
were not jealous of the great dignity which had fallen to 
Stanislaus during their imprisonment, though it had 
been that of their father of glorious memory. Then 
came the turn of the arch villain, Patkul, who had taken 
sanctuary among the King’s enemies, and who had 
originally stirred up all the trouble, and with his traitor¬ 
ous tricks constantly fanned the flame whenever the 
embers seemed dying down and going out. 

General Patkul has made so much noise in the world 
and his death was so remarkable, that it may not be 
amiss to give some account of the end of that most unfor¬ 
tunate fellow. After King Augustus and the Tsar of the 
Muscovites had put their heads together at Grodno, the 
rascal had under King Augustus’s free disposition jour¬ 
neyed into Switzerland, where he had, with sufficient 
cunning, betrothed himself to a rich and noble yet fool¬ 
ish widow who had fallen a victim to the blandishments 
of his person. Though he had permitted Patkul to gain 
her, Augustus believed it wise not to allow the fellow 
too slack a rope, but had him seized and conveyed to 
his safe fortress of Sonnenstein. There at last he was 
given over to us, and we conveyed him to our camp in 
a closed wagon, in the bottom of which we had bored 


202 


EXECUTION OF PATKUL 


holes in order that he might have some air upon the 
road. King Charles knew him full well to be still a Mus¬ 
covite ambassador; but had he not also been born a 
Swedish subject? 

A court martial was then ordered, at which the Field- 
Marshal Rehnskold presided, and where we might all 
see the traitor. He seemed an old fellow, thick and 
fat, with a red suit covered richly with golden galloons. 
He was awarded his just deserts. After the trial was 
ended, a Swedish officer, who was acting as clerk, read 
with a high voice a paper upon which were these words: 

Be it known that the express order of His Majesty, our 
most lenient and merciful Master, is: That this man, who 
has been proven a traitor unto his country, be broken and 
quartered as a reparation for his crimes and an example unto 
others. May all guard themselves from treason and serve 
their King faithfully! 

When his final hour came, it being on Michaelmas 
Day, the priest who had brought him consolation, did 
say unto him even as the prophet Isaiah did unto King 
Hezekiah, “Set thy house in order, for thou must die 
and not outlive to-morrow.” He was then carried bare¬ 
footed upon a rack, with no other clothes than his shirt 
and breeches, and above him was held a picture of the 
wheel upon which he was about to be broken. His right 
arm was first struck, but, as it took the executioner 
three mighty strokes to sever it from the body, Patkul 
thereat shrieked quite loudly, crying withal incessantly 
the name of Jesus, thus continuing until both arms 
and legs had been broken. And altogether he received 
fifteen blows. The captain who was commanding at the 
203 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


affair cried unto the executioner to direct the strokes 
at his breast. The poor sinner then cast his eyes upon 
the captain, praying, “ For the love of God, strike off my 
head, strike off my head!” which therefore also the 
captain ordered. Now that the executioner would help 
Patkul towards the block, the fellow rolled himself to it 
and laid his head thereupon. It took three good strokes 
before the head fell off. 

“Away with the knave and the traitor!” cried all 
those that stood near by. Thereupon the body was 
chopped into four parts, which we stuck upon poles on 
the hillside, and a complete account of his miserable 
and well-deserved end was sent into Sweden and one 
into Germany, and one to Patkul’s affianced bride. 

I will say, I observed that the army was melancholy 
during this execution. Nobody found pleasure in it; 
I also took note there was not the usual cheerfulness 
among us for some time afterwards. But the King had 
had great provocations. 

Our camp at Altranstadt resembled not the quarters 
of Augustus in Dresden or Leipzig. In the field before 
the castle, where lodged His Gracious Majesty, stood 
the royal horses, with scarcely any halters, and sacking 
in place of proper blankets. And there were neither racks 
nor mangers. The horses had their coats rough, as also 
their bellies, their buttocks and their switchy tails. 
The King’s bed-chamber was a small dirty room with 
bare walls, and to his bed there was neither canopy nor 
sheets. But the same quilt which he had under him, it 
being long, he was also wont to turn up over him. His 
writing table, thereby, was a board with but a stick to 
204 


A VISIT FROM AUGUSTUS 

lend it support, and in place of a standish, there was 
but a poor wooden thing with a sand-box of the same. 
By the bedside lay, however, the fine gilt Bible, and this 
was the only thing that looked fine in His Majesty’s 
equipment. 

Now came the time when King Augustus and the 
princes and ministers from all the lands of Europe were 
to come to our humble quarters to pay their court unto 
Sweden’s warrior king. Six horses drew King Augus¬ 
tus’s royal equipage; when he came, our King,,having 
received no notification, was in the stable a-watching the 
currying of the horses and the polishing of his pistols 
near-by. So he must run up the courtyard and stair, 
and when they met, the two monarchs embraced each 
other with a tenderness which touched all the spectators, 
and many among the two royal suites attested with 
tears how moved they were at these expressions of 
friendship. It was strange to mark the difference be¬ 
tween the strict Calvinist of the North and the other, 
over whom gallantry ever held sway. 

My tutor had told me, when I was a lad, much about 
the Elector Augustus, as he then was styled. Even 
before he had learned to read, he knew several beau¬ 
tiful small prayers, and in the fourth year of his age, 
the catechism of the learned Doctor Martin was im¬ 
printed upon his soul. But all that was long ago and 
somewhat changed, and I was now all agog to see what 
he looked like. 

Augustus was clad in a magnificent, gold-embroidered 
coat and waistcoat covered with pearls and precious 
stones. King Charles’s plain blue coat was stained from 
205 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

the morning ride, and indeed it was hard for the dust 
to recognize the yellow of the skirts pinned up before 
and behind. The old leather waistcoat and breeches, 
though not, as some would have it, sufficiently greasy 
to be fried, were still quite nasty. Having not been gal¬ 
lanting or himself gone a-calling, he had no new clothes 
upon his person; his gloves were as stiff as horn and 
his colossal rusty spurs stuck out from behind his worn- 
down heels. 

With their arms around each other, the two brotherly 
monarchs forthwith went in to the board, where the 
conversation fell upon great boots. King Augustus hav¬ 
ing remarked the extraordinary size of those our own 
monarch had on, King Charles said that he had worn 
his nigh unto six years, and that at times he would bed 
with them, because of the enemy being in the vicinity. 
Thereupon Augustus remarked that the room was 
dark, for upon the table stood but four candles while 
the great wax lights in the brasses under the beams 
gave but scant light below. By the doors stood the 
drabants, motionless, with swords drawn at attention. 
The Chamberlain Klingenstierna served King Augustus, 
while behind King Charles stood the Chamberlain 
Gustaf Guntherfeldt. When he took in the tin dishes, 
a ringing sound was heard, which at first aroused the 
curiosity of the Saxon monarch. Guntherfeldt then 
showed his hands to the King, which were of iron with 
fingers and joints that could artfully move; they had 
been skilfully wrought by a Frenchman learned in such 
matters, and strapped upon his wrists, after his own 
hands had been struck off by a mighty blow at the 
206 



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CHARLES XII AND AUGUSTUS THE STRONG SUPPING TOGETHER IN 
ALTRANSTADT, DECEMBER 7 , 1706 
From a Contemporary Engraving 



























































































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CHARLES AND AUGUSTUS 


Battle of Kliszow in 1702. Facing the monarchs on 
the other side of the round table stood the court page, 
Cronmark, carving the steak which had hurriedly been 
prepared for this great occasion. 

Then they went into their private chamber and talked 
full lengthily of matters which concerned not others; 
but we, who stood without, suspected Augustus of at¬ 
tempting unsuccessfully many a wily question. But 
neither King Augustus nor his allies — nor the other 
European statesmen, for all of that — were to divine 
the riddle of our Charles’s mind. He hid without dif¬ 
ficulty his remarkable memory, and showed not his 
great shrewdness. Nor perhaps did our young monarch 
comprehend what of greatness lay in his cousin’s nature. 
For though amid all pleasures, his favorite was love, yet 
had he assisted greatly the trade and welfare of his 
country and made his city of Leipzig into the finest 
market in all Germany. 

And when night came, King Charles took his Bible 
out of his bedroom, wishing that King Augustus should 
sleep in his bed, which we hurriedly prepared with such 
soft and scented linen and sheets as could be borrowed 
from out the chests of the castle. And Charles slept 
outside on a soldier’s cot. 

The presence of our great and seasoned army was 
indeed causing such uneasiness at the courts of Europe, 
that they all sent princes and ministers a-scurrying to 
Altranstadt to find out the intentions of our King. 
The mighty struggle for the Spanish monarchy was at 
its height, and it seemed scarce possible that the matter 
should be of no concern unto Sweden. Whichever side 


207 





CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

so great a king with such invincible soldiers might favor 
would surely be victorious. Both Louis and the allies 
must thus forthwith seek to fathom the mysterious de¬ 
signs of the taciturn northern conqueror. 

While it had been King Charles’s wont in active serv¬ 
ice to refuse flatly to see either ambassadors or minis¬ 
ters, this strict rule was set aside on this occasion, and 
the foreigners were here admitted instead of having, as 
earlier to their chagrin and despair, their papers referred 
to Stockholm and the powerless councillors there who sat 
a-sucking their thumbs. To the city of Leipzig this jun¬ 
keting of ministers and princes was a great blessing, for 
not only did the populace see their brave equipages and 
fine followers, but they reaped much advantage from the 
ducats they spent. Thus did His Majesty hold a magnifi¬ 
cent court, attended by both powers and lords of the em¬ 
pire, with ambassadors and residents of foreign princes. 

Among these notables came also our friend the Rev¬ 
erend John Robinson, who had been near the Court of 
Sweden full thirty years, and could therefore, to the 
great satisfaction of our King, discourse in our own 
tongue. He came now to announce the arrival of His 
Grace Duke John of Marlborough, victor of both Blen¬ 
heim and Ramillies, than whom, with the exception of 
our own Charles, there was no greater general in all the 
armies of Europe. Not only by his English friends, but 
also by the allies in England, and above all by the Court 
of Vienna, had he been importuned to visit our monarch 
and attempt to penetrate Charles’s designs. 

When he arrived, our King was at church, it being 
of a Sunday. While the duke spoke in English, Robin- 
208 


THE DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH 


son forcibly put his words into the Swedish. And the 
Duke said: — 

I present to Your Majesty a letter, not from the chancery, 
but from the heart of the Queen, my mistress, and written 
with her own hand. Had not her sex prevented it, she would 
have crossed the sea to see the prince admired by the whole 
universe. I am in this particular more happy than the Queen, 
and wish I could serve some campaigns under so great a gen¬ 
eral as Your Majesty, that I might learn what I yet want to 
know of the art of war. 

When now King Charles had answered the duke, the 
latter spoke in French, whereunto King Charles replied 
in Swedish. They then dined but did not speak unto 
each other at dinner; my Lord Duke only spoke to Count 
Welling on his other side, very low, in the French tongue. 
The duke seemed much surprised at the manner in 
which the table was served. The repast lasted, accord¬ 
ing to custom, but quarter of an hour. Besides John 
Robinson and Piper and Hermelin and the marshals 
and some of the foremost generals, there was also George 
Stepney, the British Ambassador to Poland. He kept 
his eyes open, for we opened the letter he writ that 
night to London-town, wherein he said: — 

King Charles began his dinner with a great piece of bread 
and butter, having stuck a coarse napkin under his chin. 
He drank with his mouth full, out of a great old-fashioned 
beaker, small beer, which seemed his only liquor at the meal. 
He drank about two English bottles, for I noted he emptied 
his beaker twice. Between every bit of meat he swallowed 
a piece of bread and butter, which he first had spread with his 
great thumb. He was no more than a quarter of an hour at 
the table and when he arose, his drabants, or life-guards, sat 
down to the same table for the same victuals. As for King 
Stanislaus, whom I left this morn, he is tall, young and hand- 

209 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


some, wearing whiskers in the Polish dress, but inclined to 
be fat, and a little upon the dirty, as all Poles are. 

After dinner His Grace of Marlborough continued 
discussing the state of Europe with our King, during 
which Count Piper could not refrain from shedding 
tears at the very pathetical expressions His Grace used 
to assure the King of Her Majesty's friendship; and thus 
they continued, His Grace discoursing, His Majesty 
listening, and His Excellency weeping, until the kettle¬ 
drums announced the hour of prayer, when King Charles 
took leave and retired to his customary devotions, His 
Majesty reversing the adage by remarking upon part¬ 
ing, to the duke’s lively satisfaction, that no war was 
ever bad and no peace ever good. 

The very next day, my Lord Duke set out for a call 
upon Piper and Hermelin, trusting here to accomplish 
much that might balk any plans laid by King Louis, or 
bribes he might have sent. Indeed, the Elector of Han¬ 
over wished His Grace to intimate that an annual pen¬ 
sion of £2000 to Piper and £1000 to Hermelin would 
not be counted by him at all out of place . 1 

1 “I was at Guntersdorff, where Count Piper resided, when my Lord 
Duke came thither to dine with Count Piper. I had waited at the King’s 
table at Altranstadt the day before, when my Lord Duke dined there. 
He arrived at Guntersdorff accompanied by Baron Goertz, who was with 
him in his coach. Count Piper, piqued at the confidence the duke reposed 
in Baron Goertz, made him wait some time at the door, before coming to 
receive him. The duke, shocked at this, as soon as he saw the count at 
his door, opened the coach at the other side, and goes to make water against 
the wall of a garden opposite the count’s house, leaving him in turn to 
wait a considerable time; at last he turned about to salute the count, who 
conducted him into his house, where they dined with great ceremony. 
The duke sat between.Countess Piper and Mrs. Robinson.” This anec¬ 
dote was given Colonel Klingspor by the chamberlain, Gustavus Adler- 
feld, who was an eyewitness on this occasion at Guntersdorff. — Ed. 


210 


ENVOYS AT ALTRANSTADT 

Then there came also the Baron Bossenwald from 
France as envoy. He had passed through the empire 
disguised as a merchant; and likewise the Sieur de 
Ricoux from the Court of King Louis, with great bags 
of gold hid among his coffers. From Bavaria came the 
Count de Monasterole; while on New Year’s Day, as 
bearers of many a greeting, came the Duke of Saxe- 
Gotha and all the princes of the House of Saxony. A 
great number of princes and many nobles and gentle¬ 
men of high rank, accompanied by a large number of la¬ 
dies, who were by His Majesty’s permission come out 
from Sweden to comfort and distract their husbands, 
all made the assemblies extremely agreeable and bril¬ 
liant. 

As His Majesty objected not that all the world might 
have free access to see him at dinner, Altranstadt was 
every day filled with an immense number of people, 
and the hall where the King dined was often so crowded 
that not only we officers of the household, but also the 
domestics and pages, found it difficult to perform their 
duties decently. The spectators for want of room stood 
upon stools and in the windows to get sight of His 
Majesty. Here they might, if of proper deportment, 
unchastened by the drabants on guard, see His Maj¬ 
esty and his generals sitting silently at the round 
board partaking of their modest fare. 

There would at times also be dancing, during which 
King Charles would stand silent by the walls. Sud¬ 
denly the desire to dance would seize upon him, and 
most curious would it be to observe how His Majesty 
then would deport himself. With his long steps he would 


211 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


stride across the hall, and without saying a word, he 
grabs hold of a lady and then rushes round as hard as 
he can with the female a-hanging after him, with no 
heed or observation of tempo for c the fiddlers. And with 
this he would fling about the poor wretch with whom 
he was dancing so that she flew as helplessly as a hairy 
mitten, till at last she was flung onto a bench and the 
dance was over. Well she remembered throughout her 
life that she had danced with King Charles the Twelfth. 
Nor was His Majesty particular whom he thus honored, 
for to him the first was the best one, were she a young 
and buxom noblewoman or an old and shy burgher 
dame. With womenfolk as with horses, he had no 
preference, as long as their legs would keep up with the 
pace he set. 

And who should now come a-calling, thinking this 
perchance a better opportunity for the storming of 
King Charles’s heart, but the lovely Countess Aurora 
who had taken quarters in the city of Leipzig. Once 
more would she speak a fair word in favor of the God 
of Love and offer herself as his priestess. She came 
a-driving to our quarters in the most wonderful gilded 
and painted coach, drawn by three pairs of snow-white 
palfreys, from among the best in his Saxon Majesty’s 
stables. 

The King, who was at table, hearing the noise with¬ 
out, looked from the window and then walked rapidly 
back into the garden, leaving orders to his page Kling- 
enstierna that he would not see the hussy. And as she 
entered, a vision of all sweetness, like the dewy rose of 
early morn, she saw no one but the page, for all the 


212 


AN AWKWARD MEETING 


officers had withdrawn with His Majesty. And know¬ 
ing naught better to do, the Countess executed that 
divinest of all womanly acts, and implanted upon the 
rosy lips of the astonished and enraptured page a full 
sweet kiss. Then went she about in the King’s bed¬ 
chamber and left upon his great Bible a miniature of 
herself in her prioress’ robe, set in a wreath of diamonds. 
For many a night the page was heard a-sighing in his 
sleep, wishing, I dare say, he might have been King, 
though as for the kingdom itself, he would have dis¬ 
pensed with it. This was the last we saw of the lovely 
Aurora. 

It was no easy matter to keep the old and new kings 
of Poland from meeting, for Stanislaus’s quarters were 
not far from our camp, and from that he must often go 
gallanting, through the jolly streets of Leipzig. One 
day upon the baker’s street, they came all of a sud¬ 
den upon each other; King Augustus’s horse making 
a false step at that moment, they must stop, but 
Augustus, whipping his horse, passed swiftly, after the 
two had saluted one another full civilly with their hats, 
and their cavaliers doing likewise as they saw their 
masters do. 

A-stag-hunting with King Augustus, Charles would 
not go, for he liked not the complexion of the invitation. 
So instead he sat himself down to write to his sister, who 
had just sent him preserved orange-peel in a big stone 
jar. Indeed his love for her seemed to be a worship, 
as was his veneration for his father’s memory and his 
blessed mother’s angelic virtues. 

So he wrote: — 


213 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


Serenest Princess: 

Most gracious, dear Sister: — 

The principal errand I come this time to make, is to ask 
my heart’s dearest sister to keep constantly for me her so 
priceless grace. ... 

There was naught remarkable in our last campaign. The 
army made several long marches in distant countries, but 
only some parties have been so fortunate as to deliver battle. 
Since the army has come here into Saxony, it has had lazy 
days. We have mostly been busied with scribbling. King 
Augustus is sick a-bed. So his Queen has come to him. He 
lives now here in Leipzig, which lies a mile from Altranstadt. 
He is jolly and amusing. He is not very large, but well-knit 
together; somewhat corpulent is he also. He wears his own 
hair, which is quite dark. I am so sorry for the good Greta 
Wrangel. 1 It would have been well if she had lived longer. 
She was always lively and diverting. Since Count John 2 and 
she are dead, there is without doubt much less joy in this 
world. . . . 

My Heart writes in her letter of talk concerning my mar¬ 
riage. I must then confess that I am married to the mob of 
soldiers with whom I fain must live through good and evil 
days. Otherwise, all of us who are here in this army seek to 
avoid marriage. For this is completely forbidden in the whole 
army, both during the time it was in Poland, as well as since 
we have come here into Saxony. No one dares do contrary 
to what once has been ordained, and so wholesomely or¬ 
dered. 

I remain constantly until my death, 

My Heart’s sister’s obedient, humblest, true brother and 
servant 


Carolus. 


I beg my respects to little Carl F. and to all the women¬ 
folk. 


1 Daughter of the field-marshal, a great favorite at Court, and beloved 
for her good humor. 

2 Count John Stenbock, the old marshal of the realm, with whom the 
King as a boy played so many pranks. 


214 


A POT OF TROUBLE 


Thus we stayed until spring and summer had come, 
our King daring not trust King Augustus to fulfil the 
terms of the treaty in case he moved out of the country 
and wishing to refresh and strengthen our regiments. 

But now came a pot of trouble to us from the Court of 
the Emperor. Baron Strahlenheim, His Majesty’s am¬ 
bassador, was dining late in Vienna, and among the fine 
folk was the Austrian chamberlain, Count Zobor. Now 
he was far too loose with his words, making free to 
state that there were three troublemongers in Europe 
— Rokaczy, Stanislaus, — and still another. And the 
baron naturally demanding to know who that other 
might be, high words arose, tending towards a chal¬ 
lenge. The baron holding forth his hand to the count 
to accept this, he sitting opposite him leaned over and 
gave the baron a sound box upon the ear, after which 
there arose a great uproar and hubbub, but the as¬ 
sembled nobles prevented the count and baron from 
any further violence. Though the count on the morrow 
was spirited away to a prison, this was far from appeasing 
King Charles for the insult offered to his ambassador. 

There were other grievous matters of complaint 
against the Emperor Joseph, whose gallantry d Vou - 
trance was no secret, and of which the whole world was 
cognizant. 

The Muscovite soldiers whom King Augustus was to 
have given us had quietly disappeared into Austrian 
lands — and Emperor Joseph’s offer of a chest of gold 
wherewith to recompense us for their miserable hides 
met with the haughty reply from our King, “Memini 
me Alexandrum, non mercatorum.” 

215 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


Now was the King of Sweden once more to declare 
himself the protector of the Evangelical faith. For the 
many suffering Protestants living scattered through¬ 
out the Emperor’s Silesian lands had most grievously 
been robbed of those privileges and that freedom where¬ 
in they could declare their faith and worship unmo¬ 
lested according to the promises and pledges of the 
Peace of Westphalia. The vile Jesuits, practising their 
black arts and sly and heinous propaganda, had robbed 
them of their churches, closed their schools, and forbid¬ 
den them to hold their services under penalty of dire 
persecution and punishment. So they turned unto our 
great-hearted Charles, knowing full well that, despite 
the power of the Emperor, he would with his mighty 
sword and for the love of his Protestant faith, uphold 
their righteous cause. This was no matter for easy 
parley or simple arrangement, for our soldiers were 
ready instanter to march into the lands of the Emperor, 
and a pretty state of affairs would this have brought 
about throughout the chanceries of Europe. The Em¬ 
peror’s ambassador must in his distraught condition 
write unto his master this impertinent message: — 

Je ne vous scaurais assez faire comprendre les difficult^ 
qui se rencontrent dans ma commission. Car les flatteries 
infinies, et qui sont allees au dela de tout ce qu’on se peut 
imaginer, ont tellement ghte Tesprit de ce jeune Roy et une 
grande partie de sa cour, qu’ils ne se connoissent pour ainsi 
dire, eux-memes, et qu’ils ne savent point ou s’arreter oh h 
quoi se resoudre. 

And again had he the audacity to write: — 

I have not to do with a reasonable being but with quite 
a wild creature, not to use harsher terms in speaking of an 

216 


A RELUCTANT CONCESSION 

anointed head. I cannot give such humors opportunity to 
hit upon new machinations. 

There seeming no way to find peace, we all prepared 
ourselves for a peep at the Imperial City of Vienna. 
Then, in his great despair, Wratislaw, begging us to 
wait but over a last courier, wrote unto his master: — 

The King will march in four days. As I durst not promise 
the restitution of the confiscated churches, he will certainly 
invade the hereditary lands of Your Imperial Majesty. 
Whether he can later be got out again, God Almighty alone 
knows. I write to no one with this courier, that the world may 
have no suspicion, and I beg Your Majesty to summon your 
ministers without delay and to deliberate over this mat¬ 
ter in instanti, sending me the answer immediately. For how¬ 
ever speedily I receive Your Imperial Majesty’s decision, I 
fear it may be too late. The momenta temporis are so pre¬ 
cious, but the royal humor obstinate, and those friendly dis¬ 
posed towards the French without number. 1 

Joseph yielded, and to the followers of the Augs¬ 
burg Confession in Silesia were their ecclesiastical 
rights and privileges restored, despite the curses and 
threats of Jesuits and Papal legates. Well might Joseph 
impatiently reply unto their importunities that they 
had better sing a Te Deum that Charles had not required 
him to turn Lutheran, for verily he should not have 
known what to do. 

1 Der KonigwirdinvierTagenmarschieren. Undweilich die Restitution 
der abgenommenen Kirchen nicht kann versprechen, so wirdt er ohnfehl- 
bar in E.K.M. Erblander einbrechen. Ob man ihn nach her wirdt konnen 
herausbringen, weiss Gott der Allmachtiger allein. Ich schreibe an Nie- 
mandten durch diesen Courier um die Welt nicht zu sich berufen, und ich 
bitte E. M. wollen alsogleich dero ministros lassen zu sich berufen und in 
instanti deriiber deliberiren, also dann mir gleich die Antwort schicken. 
Dann so geschwindt als ich E.K.M. Resolution erhalte, so fiirchte ich 
doch dass es wird, zu spat seyn. Die momenta temporis sind so pretios, 
der Konigshumor aber obstinat, und die franzosisch Gesinte ohnzahl. 

217 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

This last matter having been thus so happily ter¬ 
minated to the joy of all, they struck in Sweden a 
medal on which was engraved the head of our great 
King and above it was inscribed, “Carolus XII. 
d. G. Rex Suecia. Ad coelum liberiore via and be¬ 
neath, “ Sacris Silesiae Evangeliccz restitutis. a.d., 
MDCCVII.” 

Then, after keeping a day of fasting and prayer, we 
sent our womenfolk home to Sweden, said good-bye 
to many of our good pastors, and prepared to break 
camp. This was, however, no easy matter, for a swarm 
of children belonging to the doubtful women who had 
joined our camp from all over Germany were every¬ 
where deposited upon our horse-blankets and capes. 
Indeed they lay so thick around our tents that it was 
with difficulty we or our horses did not step upon them. 
They were finally collected in the great commissary 
vans, and with their mothers driven into the city of 
Leipzig for safe keeping. 

Now our King, having had enough of party-making 
and being ever courteous, would not leave Saxony with¬ 
out paying his final respects to King Augustus and 
thanking him for his long hospitality. So when the 
army once more reached the great river, King Charles 
suddenly left, accompanied only by Colonel Hard and 
a few drabants, and rode straight to the gates of Dres¬ 
den, which was the Saxon capital by the Elbe, where 
the horrible spectre, now known as “The Dresden 
Monk,” made his appearance some ten years before 
the time whereof I relate, dressed with his flowing robe 
and hood around him, carrying under one arm his own 
218 


CHARLES VISITS AUGUSTUS 

severed head, and with the other hand a lantern. At 
the customs, King Charles’s officers gave their names 
without hesitation, but His Majesty, in order to sur¬ 
prise his cousin, gave the name of “the soldier Charles.” 
As they rode across the Newmarket, the Minister Flem¬ 
ing, who was standing by his window, came bustling 
down greatly alarmed at what he saw, but had albeit 
sufficient presence of mind to embrace His Majesty’s 
leg and make a profound reverence, which brought a 
throng of the townspeople running. 

King i\ugustus who had that day taken much strong 
medicine, and as a consequence felt not right well, was 
sitting in his nightshirt in an apartment adjoining the 
royal bed-chamber, where he amused himself watch¬ 
ing the drilling of the horses in the courtyard below. 
When, to his amazement, he beheld his royal visitor, he 
hurriedly ordered his gilded breeches and silken stock¬ 
ings put on, and while King Charles made his reverence 
to the Queen and mother, his dressing proceeded, so 
that he could mount a horse beside his Swedish cousin. 
And he ordered at once all the cannons upon the city 
walls to be fired, while the guards beat their drums and 
blew their silver trumpets. The streets were now so 
filled with the shouting, jubilant populace that the sol¬ 
diers were obliged to make way for the two monarchs, 
as King Augustus accompanied King Charles full half 
a mile without the walls. We were mighty glad when 
we saw his foaming horse come galloping into camp, 
for we liked not his trusting himself within the lion’s 
mouth. 

And as we marched through Silesia, the tidings of our 
219 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


great peace with the Emperor having spread as wild¬ 
fire through the country districts, the good Lutherans 
collected around our regiments with cries of joy, and 
kneeling along the sides of the road, they blessed our 
great King as he passed them by, the tears streaming 
in gratitude down their faces. In the morning and 
evening their children, who would march with us by 
day, could join with us in our Lutheran hymns they 
knew and loved so well. I have heard tell that even 
now, so many years since those glorious days, the 
children in those lands have a game wherein they range 
themselves as soldiers in a circle around their pastor, 
and pray and sing as did the Swedish soldiers they saw 
in the summer of 1707. 

Once more we turned our steps toward Poland and the 
dark, unknown Muscovy behind her — the finest and 
greatest army Sweden ever had; 45,000 horse and 
foot, commanded by brave and gallant officers, men 
of as much experience and conduct as any in the world; 
and all men who know anything of war know good 
officers make a good army. They were indeed as fine 
a body of gentlemen as ever I saw together in my life, 
their horses without comparison, and their equipages 
the finest and best in the world, and their persons 
Swedes, which, I think, is enough to say of them. Our 
last great enemy, Peter, was to be conquered. 


CHAPTER XIV 

THE MARCH TOWARDS MOSKOWA 

In Europe there were two great monarchs, Louis the 
Fourteenth and Charles the Twelfth. But while Louis 
of France, himself great in statecraft, would in war place 
his confidence in his great generals, our Charles, the 
greatest general of his time, would, alas, give no heed 
unto the counsels of his ministers. And what profiteth 
it a country in the end, if statesmanship walketh not 
hand in hand with the sword? 

Now was the beginning of that great campaign in 
which Sweden’s soldiers were to march and fight and 
march, even as far as the crow would fly were he to 
spread his wings from Copenhagen unto the Papists’ 
holy city of Rome. Indeed some have murmured that 
we were resignedly led as lambs unto the slaughter — 
but never has more wonderful and glorious campaign 
been conducted by any nation or general, if we perhaps 
except Alexander leading his phalanxes through the 
sandy deserts into the plains of far-off India. For two 
long years were Sweden’s soldiers to show an endurance 
and obedience never before equalled in the most glorious 
annals of military history. Indeed, it seems to me now, 
when far from the shock and enthusiasm of battle, a 
great and irreparable tragedy, that such genius for 
command, such fortitude and temperance as were pos¬ 
sessed by His Majesty could not have brought our 
poor country other fruit than imperishable memories and 


221 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


a swelling pride of race that neither time nor national 
disaster can ever destroy. Little thought did his gra¬ 
cious Majesty give to the great price our poor little 
country was so cheerfully paying, or to the empty coffers 
at home. In these years between Narva and Poltava, 
three hundred thousand soldiers, the finest and bravest 
men in Europe, left Sweden and Finland and our Baltic 
provinces, and only seventy thousand of them were 
ever able to crawl back to the starving ones waiting at 
home. Of the mercenary troops that fell by the thousand 
under the Swedish banners I have no knowledge. Nor 
wot I much as to the thousands of good artisans and 
peace-abiding peasants who were led into Muscovite 
captivity and slavery from out of our Baltic provinces. 

After our valiant King had been laid forever to rest 
amid his great sires, there were indeed those who 
grumbled and made complaint, as is ever the case when 
a great man is gone. They dared voice the opinion that 
he held in too great esteem his supernatural mission 
and protection, and would with narrow and obstinate, 
well-nigh insane resolution, give no heed unto either 
the councils of his generals or of the fat little wiseacre, 
Piper. An adventurer, would they say, an adventurer, 
stubbornly and blindly set upon his own plans. But they 
never felt the glad thrill as the Swedish bugles blew to 
storm; they never knew the shock of conflict nor saw 
one army after the other flee before the banners of the 
Lion of the North. Never will they know how great was 
His Majesty’s art, how swiftly and clearly would he 
form his plans, and deliberately carry them out; how 
patiently he could wait for the moment to come, and 


222 


A BOLD DECISION 


then spring upon his prey like the king of beasts. 
Surely, no general ever demanded such sacrifice of his 
men; but in equal measure did he give himself, and his 
only love was Sweden. 

But I must return to my tale, for I was now about 
to tell how His Majesty led his great army out of 
Saxony and Silesia and once more into Poland. After 
our regiments had marched into Saxony, Muscovite sol¬ 
diers, whom it had been so hard for us to hit upon, 
sprang up all over Poland, as do mushrooms in the 
meadow after the autumn rains; and Peter now played 
master in the republic. King Charles decided to march 
upon Moskowa; though this bdld plan he hid deep 
within his own heart, and no questions from his generals 
could unseal his lips. Had not Fredrik been brought 
to his knees when the Swedish soldiers stood before the 
gates of Copenhagen, and Augustus become as pliable 
as the housewife’s dough, when our kettledrums could 
be heard from the walls of Dresden? 

The councillors and generals implored him to return 
to the Baltic provinces, now so hard pressed, with much 
territory in the hands of the enemy, and the great cities 
all conquered or destroyed. There, they argued, could 
supplies be easily sent unto us from Sweden, and were 
it not better to free and defend what was our own than 
to enter upon so tremendous and desperate a campaign 
so hopelessly far from all help or fresh supplies? But 
Heaven, when the ruin of a person or a party is deter¬ 
mined, always so infuriates their counsels as to make 
them instrumental to it themselves. Were he to strike 
at the heart of the Muscovite power, His Majesty be- 
223 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

lieved, all the limbs would shortly wither and drop off, 
and he understood that in eastern Europe it was but a 
question of two powers, whether Sweden were to be 
master or the great Muscovite Empire, which was slowly 
growing conscious of its strength. The settling of mas¬ 
tership in east Europe must come now, once and forever, 
and King Charles understood full well that the conflict 
that was to come would be far greater than any he 
and our soldiers ere now had faced. The campaign in 
Poland was to be of an entirely different sort from any 
previous one. Tsar Peter saw he must abandon all hope 
of peace, for of such King Charles would not hear. 
Peter’s soldiers had learned much from the many drub¬ 
bings we had given them, and the Muscovite General 
Scheremetoff had been a diligent pupil of all King 
Charles’s methods could teach him. 

Tsar Peter, knowing what advantage may lie in re¬ 
treating as well as fighting, and knowing, too, how the 
fisherman draws the fish on by the bait, determined 
slowly and steadily to avoid conflict, and to make the 
winter, and starvation, and the difficulty of the country 
his partners. Thereto, he destroyed roads and bridges, 
and all food for man and beast, burning the country 
naked and bare wherever we must pass. As our peasants 
at home lead the bear onward to the trap by dropping 
here and there upon its track a tempting cut of bloody 
meat, so Peter would leave sufficient men in our way to 
fall a prey to our advance guards or offer us a minor 
conflict. The Baltic provinces he turned into a desert, 
so that our nearest lands could give us neither food nor 
help. 


224 


THE PLAN OF THE CAMPAIGN 


And these were King Charles’s plans. — The main 
body of our troops should, proceeding over part of 
Smolensk where lay the great road, fared over by 
many a merchant, march upon Moskowa. There should 
the General Lewenhaupt join us, with his eleven thou¬ 
sand men and all supplies for man and beast of which we 
might be in need during the last stages of our great 
campaign. The General Lubecker, who now stood in 
Finland with fourteen thousand, was to destroy the 
newly risen city of St. Petersburg; thereupon should he 
also march southward and join His Majesty, while 
King Stanislaus with his sixteen thousand Poles and 
the General Crassow with his army of eight thousand 
more should march into the province of the Ukraine. 
In Southern Russia, the turbulent and ever mutinous 
Kossacks, Kalmucks and Zaporovians would without 
fail rebel and join us, while the Sultan, with legions 
numerous as the grasshoppers of Egypt, would stream 
north to take part in dealing the death-blow to their 
old and treacherous arch-enemy. In the midsummer of 
the coming year was the tempest to break over the 
head of Peter, now doomed to perdition. Even thus 
doth man propose, while the Lord God disposes. 

Having reached the Polish border, we marched through 
Punitz, Ravitz, and Fraustadt to Slupza, until we came 
unto the banks of the river Weichsel, where we went 
into camp until came the New Year of Our Lord 1708. 
We were 43,650 men in all, of which more than half 
were horse. The army being quartered, we looked about 
for the mills, but the miserable Muscovites had burned 
them all. The King then ordered we should get hand- 
225 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

mills from the peasants with which we might grind our 
corn. The Swedish horsemen and fellows made no 
ado about threshing, grinding and baking, but the 
German soldiers must set up a loud complaint. 

Now came several important messengers to the Swed¬ 
ish camp, among others a Turkish Aga, who, being 
brought into the King’s tent, began by arguing that a 
good wind maketh the way short. He brought assur¬ 
ances of his most gracious Lord’s goodwill towards His 
Swedish Majesty and wondered greatly why the Swed¬ 
ish merchants did not trade with Constantinople. 
Inclining himself respectfully before King Charles, even 
so that his turban touched the ground of the tent, he 
told how in his holy city might we purchase red and 
colored silks, turbans, caviar and tigerskins, scarlet 
cloths with gold flowers, tobacco, coffee, indigo, rugs, 
calicoes, and cotton prints, silk moire, pearls and corals, 
and all manner of camel’s-hair. 

We treated the strange fellow well, but marvelled 
much at many of his sayings. 

It was also now that a messenger arrived from King 
Stanislaus, saying that Mazeppa, the Hetman of the 
Kossacks, had offered to enter into an agreement with 
the Kings of Sweden and Poland. This caused His 
Majesty great joy, for he had given the fellow much 
thought. Mazeppa was a great man and his name was 
known far outside the borders of the country which 
he ruled. 

His career had verily been most adventurous and fate 
had treated him far better than he deserved. As a young 
lad he had come in an impoverished condition unto the 
226 


MAZEPPA’S PUNISHMENT 

Polish camp, in order there to seek his fortune. Being 
of an adventurous and ambitious turn of mind, he soon 
learned both good and evil. As he was well-grown, 
pleasing in appearance, and of a lively disposition, he 
soon came into favor, not only with his masters and 
those that were placed above him, but also he gained 
the good graces of a beautiful and noble lady, who was 
the wife of one of the great officers of the realm. 
Stealing money for his evil purpose, he purchased from 
the Jews silk cloth and sable, and this he gave her as well 
as some Turkish dolls and what was left of the shining 
ducats which he had stolen. The relations of the two 
having transgressed the strict though oft irksome law 
laid down by the seventh of the Lord’s Commandments, 
the lady’s husband became aware of the amour which 
was going on, as it were, under his very eyes, and he had 
the young Mazeppa seized and undressed quite naked, 
while the lady was obliged to watch the entire course 
of proceedings. The lad’s entire skin was then well 
smeared with honey and other sticky substance, and 
after the hens and geese in the stable had been killed 
and plucked, Mazeppa was rolled in the feathers. 
Thereupon there was led from the stable a fiery young 
stallion upon whose back Mazeppa was bound, amid 
the shrieks and lamentations of the lady, whose thoughts 
no longer dwelt upon love. Then lighting a bundle of 
faggots under the tail of the infuriated beast, the noble¬ 
man let them crackle for a time, whereupon the horse, 
plunging and all of a tremble for fright, was let loose. 
After it had run until its strength was exhausted, it 
was caught by some Kossacks, and the youth, who, 
227 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


when sufficiently revived, told a full plausible story 
of the cruelty of his enemies, was clothed and given 
nourishment and his wounds were dressed with healing 
salve, after the remaining feathers had been plucked 
from him. And like Joseph in Pharaoh's land, Mazeppa 
grew up to become a great man among the Kossacks, 
until he filled the highest offices. He finally married a 
widow of untold wealth, which still more advanced 
him in honors. The Hetman or Commander of the 
Kossacks having fallen into disgrace with Tsar Peter, 
he made Mazeppa hetman. When the Tsar there¬ 
upon began war with the Turks, Mazeppa and all his 
Kossack horse stood him in good stead, and Mazeppa 
still growing in favor, Peter gave him several casks of 
gold and conferred upon him the Order of St. Andrew. 

The Kossacks, over whom Mazeppa ruled, and their 
lands, were indeed in an unfortunate position. Their 
republic had, I am told, first arisen in the lower course of 
the river Dnieper. Having such uncomfortable neigh¬ 
bors to the north as the Poles, who were ever sucking 
out of them whatever they possessed of earthly goods, 
and again to the south the Tartars, who from their 
side plundered them upon all occasions, the Kossacks 
at last decided forever to abandon peace and the build¬ 
ing of houses and cities, and to become, as the Greeks 
of old, a republic of warriors. Any stout fighter might 
join their wandering army as long as he was not a 
peasant, made confession to the Greek Orthodox faith 
and lived not with woman. 

Thus lived this strange branch of the Little-Russian 
or Ukranian people. They feared neither God nor man; 
228 


A SCURRILOUS LETTER 


and that they brooked not insult, even from the Sultan, 
that I can vouch for. When the great Sultan Mohammed 
IV wrote them a haughty letter in which he recounted 
his many titles, and would compel the Zaporovian Kos- 
sacks to humble submission, they gave his ambassador 
a reply which read in turn: — 

Thou Turkish Satan, Thou damned brother of the Devil 
and Secretary of Lucifer himself. What manner of beast art 
thou? The Evil One vomits what thou swallowest. Thou 
art not worthy of having Christian sons beneath thee. We 
fear not thy army, and on land as well also as on sea, would 
we fight thee, thou Babylonian cook, Macedonian stave- 
binder, brewer of Jerusalem, Alexandrian goat-thief, swine¬ 
herd from Big and Little Egypt, Tartar ram, Karmeniac 
butcher-boy, evil-doer from Pedolia, seed of the very Devil, 
the clown of the upper as well as the lower world, swine- 
snout and horse’s tail, red-haired bitch, unbaptised skull, 
may the Evil One catch thee! Thus the Kossacks answer 
thee, thou heathen; thou art unworthy of the mother of true 
Christians. The date we know not for we have not calendar. 
The moon is in the sky, the year in the book, and outside 
of this, it is the same day here as with thee. 

The Hetman of Kosjevoj, Ivan Sirko, 
with his whole Zaporovian army. 

This was not the kind of letter that the Sultan was 
wont to receive, or of the epistolary style in custom 
at the Porte. 

It was a strange people, capturing women being one 
of their chief occupations, for were they plump and 
light of hair, the Tartars and Turks would pay them 
plentifully for such. Despite the many nights and days 
we spent with them, yet knew we them not, for while on 
Monday they might be open-hearted, honorable, child¬ 
like and hospitable, on Tuesday might they prove wild 
229 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

and faithless and sly or evil. Fat and fertile was their 
province of Ukraine, where some of them inhabited 
mountains and others the plains and yet others the 
islands of the Boristhenes. And great quantities of 
their corn they distilled into strong waters; their 
wethers and ewes and oxen were large and good to look 
upon. 

Though they liked not the suzerainty of Muscovy, 
still must they bow beneath it, and Mazeppa set to 
rule them by Peter was perchance the only man fit for 
the office. Full of cunning and with no conscience nor 
honesty, faithless even unto his nearest friends, hypo¬ 
critical and cruel, he was ready with the slyness of the 
fox for every situation. He was withal ridiculous in 
many actions, and amorous and cowardly in his every 
deed. For many years had he now by his crafty be¬ 
havior deceived Tsar Peter who, turning a deaf ear 
to the tales told him of his faithful hetman, sent him 
living fishes from Neva and Ladoga, and would in return 
receive all manner of delicacies from the Ukraine, such 
as elk and roebuck steaks, pears and apples, and ripe 
cherries. 

But to Mazeppa and his Kossacks, the yoke of the 
Muscovites had become irksome, as would that of the 
Angel Gabriel himself had he consented to look down on 
them from his place of honor in the Kingdom of Heaven. 
They liked not paying imposts to the city of Moskowa, 
nor being called upon to serve at such times as they 
would rather rob. Believing Tsar Peter’s days were 
numbered, Mazeppa went to King Stanislaus with big 
words and fair promises; but Peter got word of this and 
230 


MAZEPPA HANGED IN EFFIGY 

at last recognized the hetman’s doublefaced hypocrisy 
and treachery. 

The Tsar then called unto his court the captains of 
the Kossacks in order that they choose a new hetman. 
It took place in this manner. First was led forth, as if 
out of a chamber of arrest, the dummy or likeness of 
Mazeppa, which was all made of wood, the size of a man 
and completely dressed, with blue ribbon and insignia 
of knighthood. Prince Menzicoff and the great Chan¬ 
cellor Golofkin stepped forward, tearing to pieces a 
letter in which Mazeppa was named Knight of the Order 
of St. Andrew. Thereupon the star and ribbon were 
torn off the effigy and trodden under foot; and when 
the executioner had laid a stout cord about its neck, he 
dragged it forward to the square, where was a gallows. 
The hangman then broke the effigy’s sword in two and 
hung the bits by the gallows, whereupon the effigy was 
hung and the office of Hetman of the Kossacks de¬ 
clared vacant. 

This is all I now must tell of Mazeppa and his peo¬ 
ple, for it was not until the following year that we were 
to join forces and learn to know them all better. I must 
return unto his Majesty King Charles and the many 
events happening in our camp and on our march. 

Among those that came to our camp was the Prince 
Jean-Albert Lubomirski, for he was set upon renounc¬ 
ing his own idolatrous religion and embracing the Luth¬ 
eran faith. This was all the more praiseworthy as he 
had during a stay of twelve years in China baptised into 
the Church of Rome over 6000 of the strange people 
amid which he was laboring. Having now however read 
231 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


the book of Chemnitus as to the Council of Trent, the 
scales fell from his eyes, and in open consistory by us did 
he abjure Catholicism and make confession as well as a 
most eloquent Latin discourse. 

The country and the peasants amid which we were 
passing caused us much concern, killing our outposts 
and hindering our progress. So His Majesty gave orders 
that all houses were to be burned and all peasants that 
were caught were to be killed, hanged or burned, as we 
might see most fit. These severe methods did he find 
necessary in order that they might forever see the peril 
of thwarting so high, gracious and brave a king, and 
know that by so doing His Majesty would leave neither 
cock nor cur behind him. 

Now in the city of Smorgania, where we halted, 
knowing the Hetman Mazeppa needed time to prepare 
his wild horsemen for their common action with us, 
the dancing bears have their high school and home, 
whence they start for to make their many waltz-steps 
in the towns and cities of the world, and to delight the 
idle populace and rustics. Numbers of these intelligent 
and learned beasts came a-dancing amid our horse and 
foot, astonishing greatly our horses, but to our own 
considerable happiness and diversion. In these parts 
we also met with great quantities of honey, of which we 
made a mead which was very delicious. Beeswax was 
thus also in great abundance. To conserve the trees in 
which these diligent and well-governed animals swarm, 
the wild forest peasants place around the foot of 
the trunks sharp stakes. This hinders the bears from 
climbing into them, for the points of the poles prick their 
232 


AN OFFER OF BATTLE 


bellies and rumps beyond their endurance, and they 
abandon, much disconcerted, the pursuit of the sweet 
honey above, to which the humming of the bees had 
called them. 

Having reached the river Boristhenes, King Charles 
now gave orders that the womenfolk which swarmed 
about the foot, even as the bees did around the tree- 
tops, should all be left behind and might not follow us 
across the river. Those who belonged in Sweden, should 
find their way home instanter. We thereupon destroyed 
the bridges after us amid much wailing. But as woman 
is both sly and perverse, some of their scouts hit upon a 
bridge we knew not of and had therefore not destroyed, 
and at nightfall a great quantity were once more among 
us. 

Again in the months of June and July, in the year of 
Our Lord 1708, we set upon the pursuit of the Muscovite, 
who would grant us naught but small engagements 
until they had entrenched themselves by the river by 
Holowczyn, in what they had good reason to believe 
an impregnable position. Here Tsar Peter believed he 
could dig the deep grave of our Swedish army. Night 
having come and the Muscovites having the river 
directly in front of them and high embankments all 
around, they set off quantities of rockets and fireworks, 
it being their intent thereby to show us their contempt 
and scorn and drive us to fight. But the morrow’s sun 
had not yet set! 

Daylight having come, our horse held chorum 1 upon 
the field, just beyond the reach of the Muscovite’s fire, 

1 Chorum : services with song. 

233 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


but where they might all observe one regiment after the 
other drawn up upon the grass. It came to my mind 
how strangely like we were unto the brave boys in blue 
who had thus fought and prayed, so far from home 
and country, under the glorious banners of Gustavus 
Adolphus. Having prayed, we sang the verses of that 
hymn we loved so well and which beginneth: “ A mighty 
fortress is our God.” 

That no one should fear the water, the depth of which 
we knew not, King Charles rode out in front of the 
whole army, and, drawing his great sword from its 
scabbard, he set spurs to his horse and dashed into the 
stream, followed by his drabants and the royal guards¬ 
men. The water reached unto the arm-pits of the foot 
which followed, so they must hold their muskets above 
their heads. Having joined battle with the Musco¬ 
vites, the slaughter being a joy to behold, the general 
Gyllenstierna, who was much beloved by His Majesty 
and was fighting near him, was grievously wounded, and 
his steed shot from under him. King Charles, seeing the 
sad plight of Gyllenstierna, jumped then off his horse 
and commanded the general to mount the royal charger. 
So did King Charles on foot turn to the infantry who 
were coming up, and such of them as were not floating 
upon the stream, getting into action, swung their caps 
above their heads and shouted for joy when they thus 
saw His Majesty was on foot going also to lead them into 
the thick of the fray. Tears of gratitude coursed down 
their faces as they pressed behind the King, who was 
running at their head as soon as they had formed, and 
as fast as his huge riding-boots would let him. Satan 
234 


MASTERLY STRATEGY 


incarnate could not have stopped the horse in front when 
they were aware of His Majesty coming up behind them 
and pressing hard upon their flanks. “The King! The 
King!” rang from one regiment to the other, lighting a 
fire in our hearts, which seemed as if it would consume 
us. 

I will not go into the many difficult parts of the ac¬ 
tion; the masterly manner in which His Majesty turned 
our regiments, availed himself of every strategic ad¬ 
vantage which had belonged unto the enemy and 
seized upon every opportunity. For as a skilful player 
of chess, who begins the game with but few men and an 
inferior position, did he soon so disconcert the opponent 
that he felt every move did but reverse the previous 
advantage. But as I now reflect upon the many cam¬ 
paigns and battles, it seems unto me as if this was His 
Majesty’s most glorious victory, where the honor be¬ 
longs to him alone, unaided by his generals, and to 
the wondrous understanding and knowledge of all that 
pertains to military matters and to conducting every 
detail amid the raging of a great battle. Here did he as 
a great general prove himself the master of his time. 

The enemy being in breakneck retreat, and our horse 
following them as long as they durst, the foot were per¬ 
mitted to sit down and rest, laying their muskets in 
good order down beside them. The vivandier^s now 
arrived, to our unspeakable joy, for we were both 
thirsty and hungry and sweaty; and they brought from 
the headquarters, a half mile to our rear, aqua vitae 
and bread and mead, each soldier thus receiving a little 
refreshment. Not so the soldiers of the enemy, for 
235 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

being safe beyond our reach, Tsar Peter, being greatly 
incensed at the loss of a battle, where all the advantage 
had been on his side, fetched out all those of his men 
that were wounded. They were thereupon made to 
draw lots, and those who drew a black lot were shot, 
whereupon the lucky fellows dug a long trench in which 
they buried them. 

Come unto Mohilow, we rested there, with the King’s 
eyes set upon Smolensk, instead of his turning to assist 
Mazeppa in the trouble which he was now busily 
fomenting in the Ukraine. His Majesty’s army, though 
constantly dwindling and feeling the long strain, was 
still undefeated, and the King must hang upon the 
heels of the Muscovites until they led us unto the very 
borders of their own empire, God alone knows how far 
from the lovely shores of Sweden; but some of the foot 
believed they had fought their way well-nigh into an¬ 
other world. Little did we dream how far we were yet 
to go. Yet had it been revealed to us it would scarce 
have been in our minds to turn back so long as the King 
marched so steadfastly at our head with his face set 
ever forward like a questing hound upon the trail. 
Where he led us, there would we follow, were the very 
ground burning under our feet, and if the ground burned 
not, it were the only thing saved from the fire, for 
behind them the Muscovites left a trail of destruction 
wider than ten times the front of our army — so wide 
that we could not reach beyond it for provisions or any 
comfort. Like fogs from the Baltic in the spring, so was 
the air ever thick with smoke from the burning of vil¬ 
lages, crops, and all else that might serve us for aid; and 
236 


SIGNS OF COLD 

to this day the smoke of a forest fire in the air, and some¬ 
times even a whiff from my own fireside carries me back 
to that dreary march with a sinking of the heart. 

And those who knew the land and were guiding us 
through it filled our hearts constantly with a greater 
dread by pointing out to us signs of the thing we 
dreaded most, the cold of the winter that was to come. 
This they declared would be more severe than any¬ 
thing we had yet encountered, for the wild geese and 
many other birds, most of which we knew not by name, 
had already begun their southward flight many days 
earlier than they were wont to go. One of our hunters, 
a native of the region, was constantly bringing in to us 
the skins of fur-bearing animals which he had killed; 
and as he dressed these by the firelight in our camp, he 
showed us the depth and fineness of the fur and declared 
its unusual quality to be a provision of these creatures 
for a severe winter. We paid no more heed to him at the 
time than to curse him for a croaking raven, and to 
make caps and gloves and linings for our boots of such 
skins as we could get from him, Now, whether he knew 
whereof he spoke or not, it befell that he was right, as 
I shall relate when the time cometh. 

Having at last come so far north and east, King 
Charles saw it was not possible to reach Moskowa over 
Smolensk but he must take another direction. Several 
roads might be taken. Either was there Scylla, — or 
Smolensk and on to Moskowa, — or Charybdis, with 
the Ukraine and Poltava. The King, heeding no coun¬ 
sel and thinking naught of the pleadings of Piper and 
such others as might without presumption offer ad- 
237 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

vice, decided full tardily to journey far south through 
Severia into the Ukraine, for common action with 
Mazeppa and his Kossacks. 

We were in dire distress for food for both man and 
beast, and had been drawing in our belts always one 
hole tighter until they strapped but sorry bags of bones. 
Unto us was, however, coming as fast as well possible 
the General Lewenhaupt with a baggage filled with 
stores for all our wants. As he might reach us any day, 
and he was not sufficiently strong to fight alone the 
Muscovites who could not be far distant, we all besought 
the King to wait, be it but for three days. But he re¬ 
fused, and we must prepare to change our course. 
Scarce two journeys therefrom, there reached us the 
fearful news of how the Tsar had, by virtue of our not 
waiting, fallen at Lisna upon Lewenhaupt, who in a 
two days’ battle had fought most valiantly, but finally 
had been obliged to burn all his baggage and supplies 
in order to save himself and the greater portion of his 
men, with which he now, hungry and exhausted, joined 
our own forces. That he had understood how to keep off 
the Muscovite, who had thrust himself between us after 
His Majesty had moved south, was indeed a miracle of 
bravery and generalship —with eleven thousand Swedes 
had he stood off forty thousand Muscovites, remaining 
on the field of battle after withstanding three charges! 
Evil messengers never ride singly; we now also received 
news of how the General Lubecker’s expedition to St. 
Petersburg had met with failure. So these were frightful 
days, even for the bravest among us. 

Now came Mazeppa and joined us with his soldiers. 
238 


THE ZAPOROVIAN KOSSACKS 


They came without means of sustenance, so what we had 
possessed, not before enough for ourselves, we were now 
forced to share with them. The principal portion of 
the forces which he brought were Zaporovian Kossacks, 
who had rendered great services to Poland in its fights 
against the Turks. Those young men who join them¬ 
selves unto the Zaporovians are permitted to nourish 
themselves by hunting and fishing as the season may 
offer. When winter approaches, those of them that 
would marry for this sleepy quiet season, when there 
is no chance for either hunting or fighting or anything 
better, must then depart from the land of the Zaporo¬ 
vians; for they spend the winter in celibacy amid con¬ 
stant debauch and quarrel among themselves. Poltava is 
their principal city; thither they take their merchandise, 
such as furs and fishes, and in their turn procure brandy, 
powder, lead, iron, and tobacco. They bury their noble 
dead near the altar of their churches; upon the coffin 
is laid the warrior’s sword and upon his breast the 
indulgentia , that is forgiveness of sins, as well as also 
a letter from the Metropolitan in Kiev to the Holy St. 
Michael, requesting of him the service to admit the 
dead man into the Kingdom of Heaven. 

Tsar Peter had spread among them many rumors of 
the evil intentions of our poor innocent soldiers and the 
cruelty of our humane and gentle King, and thereto 
offered to distribute among them sixty thousand gul¬ 
den. But all this availed nothing, for Mazeppa himself 
told other tales, and getting numerous chieftains of 
tribes that dwelt on the islands or the Dnieper cata¬ 
racts very drunk at a great feast, they all swore to Ma- 
239 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


zeppa they would support the King of Sweden. This 
they told not to their soldiers, for later many of them 
deserted when they heard they were marching peace¬ 
ably to the Swedish quarters and not unto the Mus¬ 
covites. Nevertheless Mazeppa arrived with seven 
thousand men and a great suite of very noble and 
honorable retainers; and also a great number of their 
women, which not only seemed mighty unjust to our 
soldiers, who had been deprived of such goods, but 
was still further to prove of great embarrassment to 
our movements. 

Coming unto the presence of His Majesty, Mazeppa 
harangued him in Latin, after which he kissed the King’s 
hand. Being sore afflicted with the gout, he was per¬ 
mitted to sit down; but King Charles remained stand¬ 
ing, his hat in his hand as was his wont. I was on duty 
in His Majesty’s tent and could thus observe the old fox, 
or as he called himself, “the full feathered and experi¬ 
enced bird.” He was some sixty-five years old, of mid¬ 
dle stature, stern-looking, wearing his moustaches after 
the Polish manner, and in speaking he delighted much, 
despite the royal presence, in making what seemed to 
me to be merry jests with his own high officers. He had 
with him the insignia of his high office, the baton of the 
grand marshal, and a fine horse’s tail upon a pole, as 
well as also a golden standard. He had also held around 
him other standards, partly furnished with crowns, 
partly with nankin on which was sewed the sign of the 
cross. 

He thanked King Charles for having so graciously 
taken him under his protection, as well as God for hav- 
240 


THIEVISH GUESTS 


ing delivered him and his Kossacks from the Muscovite 
slavery. Finally he kissed His Majesty’s hand and 
ordered a horse brought to the opening of the royal 
tent. Taking a sharp sword in his hand and his Master 
of the Horse holding the tail out in the air, Mazeppa 
with one great stroke cut the tail off from the rump of 
the beast, and laid it at the King’s feet, at which all 
the great Kossacks made a strange shriek, which I took 
to be a mark of homage and submission. 

The audience being over, some of His Majesty’s offi¬ 
cers held a fine banquet for Mazeppa’s suite. During the 
meal the Kossacks secreted in their clothing one piece 
after another of the royal silver service; and some having 
gotten larger platters and more precious objects than 
others, they fell to quarrelling among themselves. When 
now the servants called their attention to the fact that 
the service had for generations belonged in the royal 
Swedish pantry, they became as it were beside them¬ 
selves with anger. Mazeppa, hearing of the trouble, then 
sent one of his officers to quell the disturbance, but he 
was forthwith done to death by the Kossacks for his 
trouble. 

The cupbearers, conceiving, however, the thought 
that if but sufficient of the brandy were poured down 
the gullets of the quarrellers, and the stomach obtain 
dominion over the mind, they must perforce arrive at 
a stage where nature would become exhausted, plied 
them so diligently with the burning liquor that they all 
fell into stupors, with the exception of one or two who 
as it seemed sweated the brandy out even faster than 
it could be poured into them. By this means the silver 
241 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

was most peaceably removed from their malodorous 
bodies. 

They all remained amid us for several days; but 
when the time came to bid adieu to His Majesty, King 
Charles stated he would but give audience to such as 
had not drunken before the noonday meal of that day. 


CHAPTER XV 

POLTAVA 

Now have I come to that frightful time which my 
poor quill knows not well how to describe; for surely 
soldiers never endured such hardships or suffered such 
tortures as did we in marching down through the end¬ 
less wastes of Severia into the Ukraine, by the cities 
of Starodub, Baturin, Romny, Hadjatz, and Veprick, 
and past the innumerable hamlets and towns left smok¬ 
ing ruins before our approach. Was there ever such a 
winter as we knew during the end of the year 1708 and 
the beginning of 1709? Fighting was but child’s play 
compared to what we endured. Would to God there had 
been more of cold steel and musket-balls. Never before 
has man known such a winter; and those of us whose 
homes lay near the ice and snow around the northern 
shores of the Baltic were no weaklings to complain. 
Even the mouth of the far-off Tajo, the canals of Ven¬ 
ice, and the rushing currents of the Rhone stiffened in 
their course, and the children upon their banks fell upon 
their knees and prayed at the frozen miracles which they 
beheld. One could drive heavy loads across the Belts to 
Denmark, and in Paris the courts of justice did close. 
Around us, amid the howling icy blasts, the very game 
froze stiff in the field and the birds fell stark dead from 
the air, even as if they had been shot. Easy enough 
was it for the regiments who marched in the rear to find 
243 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

their way; they needed no guides, for the road of march 
was strewn with horses that had burst, with the stiff 
frozen corpses of the men, and their arms and trappings. 
Our hearts ached and our eyes ran when we saw the 
hundreds of brave lads who cried for the field-surgeons 
to cut off their hands and feet, that had grown white 
and crackly, while the ears and tips of the noses would 
drop off without even the assistance of the knife. 

Christmas Eve it was so cold the pastors could hold 
no sermon, but we must satisfy ourselves with singing 
chorum. When we once in a while would come upon 
some miserable huts that had not burned, though set 
fire to by the Muscovites, we would creep into them 
for shelter. But scarce had we made fire and laid our¬ 
selves to rest and prayed in the name of Jesus, before 
the smoke would be so great from the dampness within 
that we were obliged to drag out the men half-choked 
to death and throw them into the snowdrifts. On one 
march alone two thousand men fell dead before the eyes 
of His Majesty. Those who dropped and fell by the 
roadside were not the whole number of all we lost; for 
when, at the end of our day’s march, we came to dis¬ 
mount from our horses, all of us stiffly and slowly but 
some not at all, we would find that a few of the horses 
were bearing stiff corpses, the knees frozen to the saddle 
and the fingers frozen to the reins so tightly that more 
than once we must needs cut them free. And those who 
could dismount, if we had a warm place such as a fire 
in a half-burned hut, would die when they came to the 
heat, belike from some artery or some organ that would 
burst within them in the process of thawing. 

244 


MARCHING IN EXTREME COLD 

How it was that any of us came through such cold 
alive, I cannot imagine, but most of us did, though 
some of us showed the signs of it our lives long. I, who 
never lost so much as a hair from any wound in battle, 
lost two fingers from my left hand and the upper part 
of my left ear from riding half a day with that deadly 
wind against my side. If a man so much as spat, it fell 
in tinkling ice on the ground. Not even such spirits as 
were the King’s could withstand the constant misery 
that was about us. I mind well one night, not a week, 
I think, before we came to Poltava, as we rode into a 
small town from which our foes must have departed in 
more haste than usual, for they had damaged it but 
little, — the name of it I cannot call to mind save that 
it was a heathenish word of the Tartars which I never 
knew how to speak, — as we came in here, as I have 
said, with our men dying by the roadside, the King rid 
through the ranks with his hat down over his eyes 
looking steadily at his horse’s neck, for he could not 
look unmoved on the death of his brave men. 

The good Saxon uniforms were, alas, all worn out, and 
we had instead only what we had found upon the 
corpses of the Muscovites or Kossacks. And if we went 
out hunting for them, it was not now for the pleasure of 
their killing, but even as we would hunt certain game, 
for the warmth of the coat we might thereby obtain. 
Could we hit upon a furry beast, we would be full glad 
to warm ourselves with the skin or to make shoebags 
thereof; for the boots of our troopers were all gone and 
the iron of the stirrups froze fast deep into the soles of 
our feet so that we could not shake them free or dismount. 


245 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


We tried to hold the bellies of our horses together by 
tightening their girths, but this hindered them not 
from cracking. By loss of our cattle we must needs lose 
our cannon also, which were mired down and sunk 
in bogs and rivers beyond our power to draw them 
out. Our powder had, through the rain and snow, grown 
so wet that it had lost its strength; and when we fired 
a shot, it sounded as if we beat together a pair of 
gloves. 

His Majesty wrote unto his sister, the Princess Ul¬ 
rica Eleanora: “This winter has been very cold, so that 
many of the enemy, as also of our own people, have 
from time to time frozen to death or lost goodly por¬ 
tions of hands or feet or also the nose. But spite of all, 
this winter has nevertheless been a jolly season.” 

But great pity it was that Lagerkrona carried out 
with so little skill the expedition upon which he was sent, 
and that the Muscovites got into Starodub, with its 
rich stores, before us, and that the worthless fortress of 
Veprick cost us a good thousand men. Of the proud 
army of some 45,000 men with which we had marched 
out of Saxony, as well as the 6000 brought us by the 
General Lewenhaupt, there were now left but 20,000. 
They had been the finest, most hardened soldiers which 
our dear fatherland had e’er produced. Of those that 
remained to us, one third were ill or maimed, desper¬ 
ate and tired unto death. To this had the eighteen 
months of wandering through the wilds of Poland, Seve- 
ria, and Ukrainia brought us. 

At last, in the spring of 1709, we lay besieging the 
city of Poltava by the banks of the Dnieper’s tributary, 
246 


THE KING’S WOUND 

the river Vorskla. Now King Charles decided that he 
must force upon the Muscovite a decisive action, for 
delay profited us naught. There was no hope of rein¬ 
forcement or help; every day did we become hungrier, 
and our ammunition was both wet and lacking; indeed, 
it was a curious sight when the Swedish soldiers ran out 
upon the field and gathered up the cannon-balls as fast 
as the enemy shot them. The officers took their tinware 
and moulded it into musket-balls. There lay Tsar Peter, 
with 56,000 men, there being 48 battalions of infantry, 
69 squadrons of cavalry, and many guns, in a well- 
defended camp, surrounded by trenches and walls, 
watching our starving ragamuffins, even as a pack of 
jackals the wounded lion, daring not approach him as 
long as the royal beast shows a spark of life. 

It was now that the greatest of misfortunes befell us. 
His Majesty, who was out reconnoitring and superintend¬ 
ing the trenches and bastions which we were building 
in front of the city of Poltava, was struck by a bullet, 
which entered his boot and his foot a little above the 
toe, going out at the heel. He deigned not to mention 
the occurrence nor to show the great bodily pain in 
which he was laboring, but remained upon his horse 
for six hours thereafter, continuing to give as cheer¬ 
fully as before his orders and commands in all directions 
to the various soldiers who were digging and building. 
One noticed no change in the countenance of King 
Charles, but one of his officers, observing the blood 
dripping from his shoe, rode after the royal field-sur¬ 
geon, who prevailed upon His Majesty to alight and 
enter a tent, where he now was borne, the pain being 

247 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

too great for His Majesty to walk without reeling. 
The other surgeons arriving shortly, they all but one 
shook their heads, saying the royal foot must come off. 
But one surgeon informed the King he could help him 
by cutting deep. Whereupon the King replied: “Have 
done with the business instanter; cut away with good 
heart, my man, and fear nothing.” His Majesty 
himself held his leg and looked upon the surgeon cut¬ 
ting as he would on the pruning of the trees in the royal 
fruit-garden in Stockholm. A day or so later the in¬ 
flammation seeming to spread, we all despaired of his 
recovery but, God in Heaven be praised! the wound 
proved not fatal. 

Throughout the months of May and June, the siege 
was carried on with such vigor that the inhabitants of 
Poltava and its strong garrison would have surrendered, 
had not the Muscovites strengthened their courage by 
shooting many a billet and letter in empty bombs over 
our heads and within the walls, telling them of our sorry 
and desperate plight. On every side did we seek a weak¬ 
ness in the walls, His Majesty, unable to walk, crawling 
upon his belly even within the outer walls in order to 
discover an opening, the soldiers within being the while 
unaware of his foolhardy manoeuvre. 

And as if our troubles were not well-nigh as manifold 
and grievous as those of Job, the Lord now sent among 
us an unbelievable lot of flies, which flew in swarms, 
filling the huts and woods with their dead bodies and 
even polluting our few stores. Praise be to God, how¬ 
ever, that during these weeks the Kossacks must, for 
the love of their religion, fast, so that they brought us 
248 


SAD NEWS CONCEALED 

the sheep and milk which they at other times kept for 
themselves. 

We all felt as if some great disaster were about to 
happen; for a stomach does not get used to being con¬ 
stantly empty, but consumes the courage. Amongst 
the high officers there was cavil and dissension, and 
His Majesty was not there to give the word of command. 
This he had ever done, whatever might be the ques¬ 
tion, so they knew not well how to agree or proceed 
without it. His Majesty’s mind was also much troubled, 
though he would not show it, yet let he both Gyllen- 
krook and the Colonel Hard sit by him during the long 
nights, when the burning in his foot would hinder his 
eyes from closing, and he would listen to their reading 
or enter into conversation with them, hearing how Tsar 
Peter had solemnly published the news that Catherine 
Alexiewna was his legitimate spouse, and other careless 
prattle. 

Now the Muscovites were so nigh to us across the 
Vorskla that ’mid the stillness of the summer night we 
could hear the impudent roll of their drums. 

As an evil messenger there arrived Klinckowstrom 
from Stockholm, bearing the sad tidings from the Queen 
Dowager unto His Majesty, of the death of his most 
beloved sister, the Countess of Holstein. But Count 
Piper, knowing well how King Charles loved her above 
all else in this world, forbade Klinckowstrom to deliver 
the letter whilst His Majesty remained ill of the wound, 
which commands were also followed. 

At last, on the eighth day of July, this being as I have 
recounted, the year of Our Lord 1709, that great battle 

249 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


was to be fought, which I verily believe will for cen¬ 
turies settle the destinies of eastern Europe, by which 
the Muscovite Empire stepped into European history, 
and my own beloved Sweden vanished from the front 
of its stage. 

Not one of the half-starved soldiers flinched when 
the orders for the following day were given out. To 
bleed as well as to hunger had long been their wont, and 
well they knew that to die for their King was to live for 
their honor. Only one word of command had ever been 
given by our officers or understood by our soldiers, and 
that word was, “ Forward.” Never shall I forget that 
night, as I returned from the council of officers held in 
His Majesty’s tent, and walked in and out amid the men 
sleeping in rows upon the ground. As I gazed upon 
their smiling countenances, lit by the glow of the camp¬ 
fires, my thoughts were wandering back for the last 
time to the loved ones on Sweden’s soil, to the sweet 
scent of the pine forests, the cool breezes from off the 
bosom of limpid lakes, the whispering of the beeches and 
the warblings of the love-sick thrush in the long light 
summer night. This was not the cherished earth on 
which they dreamt to rest, nor was the morrow to bring 
them nearer to the fatherland. 

Let him who would read of the battle of that day 
go to the historians who have writ thereof. For myself 
I can tell naught but what I saw and heard. All that 
befell I know not, nor lives there a man who does. If 
His Blessed Majesty himself had chosen to tell of it, 
then might we know all. But we have no word of it from 
him, either by tongue or pen. My thought of it to-day 
250 









THE BATTLE OF POLTAVA 
Front a Contemporary French Engravin, 








































































‘ I 




























































THE NUMBERS OF THE FORCES 


is in some matters as clear as if the scene were before 
me now, and in others as dark as if I had never seen it. 
Add to this confusion the fact that from that day to this 
I can never think.of it but with a faster beating of the 
heart, nor speak of it with an even voice. What I know 
then, I may tell, but if it squares not with what is writ 
in history books let no man call me liar for that. 

During the night did we find it wise to send some 
2400 men from our little band to guard the baggage 
about a mile to our rear, 2000 more to observe the for¬ 
tress of Poltava, and some 1200 were posted along the 
banks of the Vorskla to prevent the Muscovites from 
taking us in our flank. Thus nine of our regiments were 
out of the action, and but 13,000 men went into the fight. 
With all that remained of the gallant little band we 
marched out into the plain, as the sun rose upon the 
heavens. Many a hegrt was raised to high heaven as 
we all knelt down for the last time together, and prayed 
to the God of our Fathers underneath the blue and yellow 
silken banners, which we loved, aye, all but dearer than 
our souls. In our midst lay our beloved King, in his 
camp-bed so placed upon a white wooden stretcher, like 
unto a bier such as one uses in a church, that horses 
fore and behind might carry it into the thick of the 
fight. Seventy-two cannon were showing their dark 
muzzles from behind the Muscovites’ seven redoubts, 
while our horse and foot were not to be supported by a 
single piece, for the artillery was, for lack of ammuni¬ 
tion, away with the baggage. 

The regiments having now all advanced bravely out 
upon the field in columns, the Field-Marshal Rehnskold 
251 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


being in supreme command, we were ordered to stand 
still and form ourselves as determined upon the night 
before. Upon our right wing was the horse under the 
General Schleppenbach; upon the left the horse under 
the General Creutz: while in the centre did we mass our 
infantry under the General Lewenhaupt; His Majesty 
himself and the field-marshal having placed themselves 
to the left. The General Roos with his horse to our right 
had further been given the honor of attacking the four 
Muscovite redoubts here situated, while the General 
Sparre attacked the three to our left. His Majesty 
turned unto Lewenhaupt, as he was carried past the 
central columns, and graciously inquired of the general 
how he liked the hour, whereupon the old general made 
reply, “I hope with God’s help, Your Majesty, it will 
go well”; upon which King Charles answered, “In 
God’s name, then, let us march to the attack.” 

Then forward, even as surges a mighty river, upon the 
breaking of its dam in springtime, rushed our horse upon 
the seven redoubts. Clouds of smoke rolled like huge 
crested waves from off their sides as the guns belched 
forth. Forward, forward, stormed the lines. ’Twas 
indeed a gallant sight for gods or men. In a short space 
of time the redoubts were ours, and choked to their 
very brims with Muscovite gunners and Swedish horse. 
But upon the corpses stood the boys in blue. Neither 
cannon nor powder nor balls had they had to help them, 
merely their courage and their shining swords. 

Now were we, alas! to tell how our great King was 
needed to guide us in the hour of strife, for neither the 
field-marshal nor the General Lewenhaupt was aware 
252 


A FATAL BLUNDER 


of the peril which ensued when Creutz and Sparre, 
hotly pursuing the fleeing Muscovites, left their con¬ 
quered redoubts, and in place of awaiting their com¬ 
rades upon the left wing and turning to good and great 
advantage the Muscovite cannon upon the flanks of their 
owners, stormed ahead, leaving Roos alone and unpro¬ 
tected. Alas and alack! For Tsar Peter, seeing the great 
blunder, sent his General Menzicoff against the Roos, 
and smothered and captured this Swedish division with 
his innumerable hordes. The General Lewenhaupt, who 
had advanced full well with his men and was indeed 
preparing to storm the southern side of the enemy’s 
camp, did also, as he was about to snatch victory from 
the defeat of his comrade, receive orders to halt, which 
he understood not, but they made him right hot. Being 
unable to observe or judge of the entire disposition of 
the field, like a good soldier, he must obey the orders. 

The Count Piper, having sat himself upon a drum 
beside His Majesty’s litter, would divert his master’s 
mind, but being heavy of heart, he could but say, look¬ 
ing up with tears streaming down from his eyes, 11 May 
the angels of God protect Your Majesty!” And these 
were the last words that passed between so true and 
tried a servant as the first minister, and the King 
of Sweden. 

Well do I know how His Majesty had, in agony of 
soul, watched the disastrous progress of events, and how 
his commanders were lacking both in judgment as well 
as coolness of command, for I had several times been 
sent scurrying with orders from him to officers along the 
lines. First was his litter surrounded by twelve of the 
253 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

drabants and twenty-four guards, for he would not take 
more out of the fight. A band of Kossacks, beholding 
the little band, rode shrieking as was their wont, down 
upon the royal standard. Now rose the soul of his an¬ 
cestors in the heart of Charles the Twelfth. Sitting up 
upon his litter, with his naked sword in hand, he com¬ 
manded his guard to carry him into the battle, there 
where they saw the fight was thickest. Forward! For 
the honor and glory of Sweden! ’Twas a strange sight 
that greeted the eyes of the foot as the little band 
swept past them — wildly leaped their hearts at the 
glory and joy of it. Sweden’s King would die with his 
men! And they closed behind him like a wall of iron. 

The horses which bore the litter were soon shot to 
pieces, and the new ones go down as soon as they are 
harnessed. Twenty-four guardsmen now carried it 
forward. Ere we had crossed through the first smoke, 
there were but seven of the brave fellows left, and then 
at last a cannon-ball shattered the framework of the 
litter. Despite the great agony of his wound, as to which 
the smile could not deceive us, for it was writ plain 
upon his features, the King was lifted up upon a horse, 
his foot with the bloody bandages trailing down its side, 
being set upon the horse’s mane. Right soon did this 
horse also go down, so that we must lift His Majesty 
upon another. Down went the brave fellows of Uplands, 
of Kalmar, Jonkopings, Skaraborg’s and Nyland’s 
regiments. Scarce could we see the ground, so thick 
lay the bodies. Even thicker, God be praised, were 
strewn the green uniforms of the Muscovites. Both the 
Tsar Peter and his Imperial spouse, Catherine Alexiewna, 
254 


THE LAST RALLY 

were fighting ’mid their soldiers, Peter crying lustily 
at each advance which his guardsmen made over our 
dead bodies, “Where is my brother Charles?” Through 
the din of battle could we hear plainly the continuous 
ringing of all the church-bells of Poltava. It was in¬ 
deed a chorus of hell they rang out. The dear tattered 
banners shot asunder by many a glorious fight swayed 
and drooped above the raging sea of conflict. 

The Field-Marshal Rehnskold seeing now that our 
poor men were overwhelmed and well-nigh crushed by 
the superior numbers of the Muscovites, collected all 
our forces as best he might, in order to protect and bring 
into safety His Majesty’s person. Unable to use our 
arms, leaderless but not vanquished, the remnants of 
the most glorious army ever brought together now 
rallied round our adored King to seek to bring him out 
of peril. The field-marshal, having reached His Majesty, 
informed him that the foot had been dispersed. Scarce 
had he cried unto the cavalry past which he was gallop¬ 
ing, “Boys, see that you save the King,” ere both he 
and Count Piper were taken prisoners. “Stand, boys, 
stand!” shouted one company to the other as they 
all went down to death together. 

The Muscovites’ closed battalions were now scarce 
fifty paces away; we thus took by force His Majesty 
to where our baggage was left. We disobeyed his com¬ 
mands for the first time in our lives, and acting con¬ 
trary to his orders, placed him in the travelling car¬ 
riage of the German Major-General Majerfeldt, which 
was lined within with blue silk and which His Majesty 
was now destined to use for some time to come, through- 


255 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

out those strange adventures which were about to be¬ 
fall him. Troops of horse, tightly closed and scornful 
of death, assisted greatly our retreat by making con¬ 
stant assaults upon the enemy, thus hindering their 
pursuit and enabling us to gather our forces farther to 
the south. 

On the field of battle lay the flower of Sweden, and 
therewith Hermelin, Torstenson, worthy grandson of 
his great sire, and many another hero. Three thou¬ 
sand more had been brought into the Muscovite camp. 
Among these were, besides the field-marshal and Count 
Piper, also the little Prince, the generals Schleppen- 
bach, Roos, Stakelberg, and Hamilton, as well as His 
Majesty’s household, including his cook, his cham¬ 
berlain, his doctor, surgeon-in-chief, pastor-confessor, 
apothecary, treasurer, quartermaster, letter-writer, 
trumpeters, lacqueys, coachmen, and other domestics. 

Such was, however, the respect of the Muscovites 
for the Swedish arms, that despite our great losses, they 
left us to withdraw in peace southward, whither we 
journeyed without tarrying, following the course of 
the Vorskla until on the eleventh we reached unto 
Perevolotjna on the banks of the Dnieper. Here all 
the food and money which remained in our stores and 
military chest, were distributed among the officers and 
men. They all received biscuits and the officers ducats 
with which to assist their poor men. And the baggage 
was all burned. Tsar Peter in the mean while, the eve 
after the battle, had a great banquet for the high Swed¬ 
ish officers, where, before he graciously absented him¬ 
self, he drank the health and long life of King Charles, 
256 


CROSSING THE DNIEPER 


as well as also, turning to Rehnskold, “to his masters in 
the art of war,” and gave the Prince of Wiirtemberg his 
freedom, and whatever he lacked in equipment and 
service. 

And now had the hour struck when this great tragedy 
was to end and Sweden to face the darkest day in her 
history. On the heights all around us, there gathered 
constantly thick masses of Kossacks and Muscovite 
cavalry, which had at last caught the scent and tracked 
the lion to his lair. Before us rolled the black waters 
of the Dnieper. On this very spot had Mazeppa 
crossed fourteen years earlier in order to join Tsar 
Peter in his expedition against Azof and the Turks. 
Some days before the battle of Poltava, the Tsar had 
burned all around us and done away with all boats or 
craft that might have ferried us across to safety on the 
opposite shore. Many of the Kossacks made shift to get 
themselves across: having stripped themselves naked, 
they slipped from off their horses’ backs, guiding the 
beasts in swimming by their heads when they would 
turn back. The sly hetman lay trembling with fear and 
wracked by his rheumatism, in his carriage, beseeching 
all who came his way to help him and his treasures 
across. A young wife he had but recently taken seemed 
to make much of him, but there was no one who now 
could give thought to his sacks of silver or the two kegs 
of gold which he slept upon in his carriage. 

And all those that were high in command went now 
to the King and besought him to leave, if he wished to 
save Sweden from utter ruin. They urged upon him that 
as long as he was free, there was still hope for his king- 
257 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


dom. Whither should he then turn, he asked Gyllen- 
krook; to which this brave officer replied that three 
courses lay open; to fight again, which was quite hope¬ 
less; to flee through the desert to Tartary; or to go back 
to Ukraine. The second of these alone seemed possible. 
Unknown to His Majesty, we now prepared the travel¬ 
ling carriage in which he had been journeying. 

Poor Lewenhaupt came into the royal tent. “Most 
Gracious Lord,” said he, “God follow Your Majesty on 
all your ways. One grace I have yet most humbly to 
crave, if Your Majesty will but grant it me.” King 
Charles replied: “What then may it be?” “Your Maj¬ 
esty knows that I have ever been a faithful servant; 
that I have done Your Majesty many a good and faith¬ 
ful service and have never feared exposing my person 
therein. I am but a poor fellow and have a poor wife 
and children. If I deserve aught for my faithful ser¬ 
vices, most Gracious Lord, then I pray that my poor 
wife and children may ijot wander around after my 
death with beggars’ staves.” “It shall be as you re¬ 
quest,” said His Majesty, whereupon the King as his last 
mark of favor gave his hand to Lewenhaupt to kiss. 

Thereupon came unto His Majesty the Creutz, and 
the Lejonhufvud, and the Sparre, and they all reasoned 
long with him, beseeching him in his despair to think of 
Sweden rather than himself. In great agony of mind was 
he finally carried into his carriage, and with Mazeppa 
and a number of high officers set upon boats we had 
builded together. Some 500 men had already gotten 
across, as also the Funck with a detachment of nigh 800 
and also the drabants. The silence of the night was 
258 


THE DAY OF RECKONING 


alone broken by the dip of the oars and the feverish 
work of all around, working with fear of death in their 
hearts to make rafts for their own crossing. 

Thus the Lion of the North parted forever from the 
army with which he had fought and conquered upon the 
shores of Denmark, at Narva, by the Diina, at Kliszow, 
Pul tusk, Fraustadt, and Holowczyn. 

Now came the day of reckoning. The Muscovite ad¬ 
vance guards are already within musket-shot of our 
outposts. Our soldiers lying all around in the grass be¬ 
hind their horses, with their small prayer-books in their 
hands, are praying the Lord Jesus Christ to care for their 
souls. The high officers ride from one squadron to an¬ 
other and ask the soldiers, would they fight once more? 
They return: “His Majesty is gone from us and it can 
but turn to our butchery and destruction.” The General 
Lewenhaupt with Generals Creutz and Cruus, in whose 
hands His Majesty had left the command, were then fain 
to yield at discretion and come to an accord with Tsar 
Peter by virtue of which our entire army capitulates, 
being some 10,000 horse and 5000 foot and nigh 1000 
officers, which be it said were the entire flower of Swe¬ 
den’s nobility and gentry. Our men must lay down their 
arms in the hands of the enemy, with what heavy hearts 
may be imagined. Many of them had their clothes 
taken from off them, and were bound with ropes, as one 
would bind animals that have no souls. The Muscovites 
then drove them before thetn as they would dumb 
creatures, not stopping until they once more reached the 
plains of Poltava, where their comrades lay still un¬ 
buried though stripped naked by the soldiery and the in- 
259 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

habitants of the city. Now were they to be scattered over 
the great Muscovite Empire, as the summer wind drives 
the feathery crown of the dandelion over the fields of 
Sweden. The greater portion were to die in slavery, or 
in prisons, or upon the far-off shores of Siberia. Few in¬ 
deed were ever again to see the fatherland. Some were 
sent to Smolensk, some to Kiev, and others to more 
distant places, but the greater portion were driven to 
the residence city Moskowa, suffering the frightful tor¬ 
tures of heat upon the long road. When the Swedes were 
greatly thirsting, for they found no water upon the road, 
then shot the Muscovites victoria and salvos of joy over 
our misery with three rounds of a hundred muskets. 

In the month of December, the greater number of our 
prisoners reached Moskowa, where a great triumphal 
procession was now to be held by Tsar Peter. The bells 
of the seventeen hundred churches and cloisters made 
a great noise as they were rung for joy continually 
throughout the day and night, this making Peter and 
Catherine right glad and merry. One could not even hear 
the voices of those roving through the streets. These 
were hung with all manner of pictures, pine-boughs, tap¬ 
estries and costly rugs. There were also great portals of 
honor, with different paintings doing great honor to the 
Tsar and showing contempt for King Charles. Thus we 
had to look upon a double-headed eagle which picked 
a lion to death, as well as many a presentment of the 
Swedish lion led about in chains by a Muscovite. 

Before break of day were they led out to the plain by 
the great Kremlin church and given the place of igno¬ 
miny in the procession, in which they were forced to 
260 


TSAR PETER’S TRIUMPH 

march without sustenance until night had set in, while 
all around they saw booths set out with brandy and 
honey-cakes with which the populace drank and ate 
themselves full and contented. 

First of all must the common soldiers march; after 
them the ensigns, the corporals and non-commissioned 
officers, and all the officers except the most exalted 
marching according to rank. Thereupon came our stand¬ 
ards and banners dragged in the mud from under the left 
arm of the lowest Muscovite soldiers, and our drums and 
trumpets piled high upon the sleighs. Then followed 
His Majesty’s fourteen fine hand-horses, his bed, and the 
miserable litter upon which he had been carried during 
the fight at Poltava, which the Muscovites had gathered 
up and mended. The German generals who witnessed 
the spectacle blamed the Tsar much for exhibiting this 
litter, for they reasoned wisely that it was a glorious 
monument to King Charles. Last of all in their unhappy 
company, came on foot the Count Piper and all our great 
generals, headed by the field-marshal. Thus were they 
marched as a spectacle for the ridicule and scorn of 
all the Muscovites that had assembled to make sport 
of us. 

Likewise did the Russian ministers in Copenhagen 
and Berlin and The Hague celebrate with much joy and 
drink, and epigrams insulting to our gracious King. But 
in Vienna such affront was forbidden, while in France 
King Louis forbade all the libraries and printers of his 
kingdom to publish the tidings of the battle of Poltava 
which were insulting to the person and honor of His 
Majesty of Sweden. My Lord Duke of Marlborough 
261 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


wrote a billet to my Lord Godolpin couched in these 
words: — 

I cannot avoid telling you that the particular account 
Prince Menzicoff gives is so terrible, that having once seen 
the King of Sweden, I am extremely touched with the misfor¬ 
tune of this young King. His continued successes and the 
contempt he has of his enemies have been his ruin. 

But I cannot follow the thousands of poor fellows 
unto their miserable ends nor can I describe all the many 
and curious manners in which they earned their living 
by polishing of stones or graving of seals, by making 
gloves or saddlery, or by the carpenter’s bench or in the 
smithy. I must return to our poor King who orders me 
with him across the Dnieper. 

Not knowing as yet that his dearest sister lay dead he 
wrote to her as follows: — 

Here everything goes well. Only of late and because of 
singular misfortune has there happened the disaster that the 
army has had a reverse, which I hope may shortly be repaired. 

I also received a “faveur” in my foot some days before the 
battle, which hinders me for a time in riding. But now I hope 
presently to have done with that injury. 

’Twas indeed a strange account of what His Majesty 
and his arms had passed through. 

Unto King Stanislaus he wrote: — 

Sire:— 

Ayant appris que la nouvelle de la bataille aupr&s de Pol¬ 
tava et l’incertitude de ma destin6e a caus6 beaucoup de 
peine k Votre Majesty, je n’ai pas voulu manquer k Lui faire 
savoir que cette perte n’est pas d’une telle consequence 
qu’elle ne puisse etre r6par£e, et que ma blessure pourra 
etre gu£rie dans quinze jours. C’est pourquoi je prie votre 
Majeste de ne rien relacher de son grand courage, et d’etre 

262 


FLIGHT ACROSS THE DESERT 

assume que je trouverais moyen de me rendre bient6t aupr£s 
d’elle avec un secours considerable. 

En attendant je la recommande & la divine protection et je 
demeure. 

De Votre Majesty, 

Le bon fr&re, ami, et cousin, 

Carolus. 

Once across the Dnieper, our little procession was 
swiftly formed, and His Majesty, being placed in a 
chaise, sets out with all possible speed, travelling both 
night and day to cross the terrible desert of Bessarabia 
and reach before the Muscovites the Turkish territory 
upon the other side of the river Bug. 

We knew well that Lewenhaupt and our trusty gen¬ 
erals would spin out, according to their best invention, 
the terms of capitulation, in order thereby to delay 
our pursuit as long as lay in their power. We also knew 
that the lack of boats which the Muscovites had de¬ 
stroyed in order to delay us would now prevent their 
own crossing. But not an hour was to be lost. We made 
a strange and motley column as far-spent, with bleeding 
hearts and limbs, we struggled in frenzied haste across 
those burning sands. The Kossacks and Tartars were 
our guides, and they seemed to know their way as the 
sea-captain does amid the endless waves of the great 
oceans, yet had they no compass. They had with them 
naught but their swords, and women-folk who followed 
on foot crying and shrieking, and the latter had silver 
rings through their dirty nostrils, while their fingers and 
nails were painted with all the hues of the rainbow. 

Great were our sufferings. We came amidst grass¬ 
hoppers or a species of locusts, that rose before noon 
263 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

from the seashore in such swarms that they lay a hand- 
breadth above the ground, and when our horses trod 
upon them, they cracked and banged like the fire-crack¬ 
ers made by the Chinese for diversion at their fStes. 
When the sun in the morning had dried their wings 
enough, they flew almost to the same height as the swal¬ 
lows, and did form such dense clouds in the air that it 
grew as dark as under a thunder cloud. When rising, 
they made a noise like a tempest. To add to our pains, 
we lacked both drink and victuals, as the Kossacks and 
Tartars themselves lacked sustenance and the nights 
were as cold as the days were burning hot. Now the 
Tartars, who to our abhorrence seemed not unused to 
horse-flesh, cut the throats of their weaker beasts, then 
seated themselves upon the backs of the stronger be¬ 
hind their companions. They dressed the horse-flesh in 
their own peculiar manner, selecting what they deemed 
the best bits, which they dried in the sun or else laid 
under the saddle, where by the much riding the meat 
became tender and easy of digestion. 

We came upon valleys with cherry trees full of sharp 
red berries which seemed to cause but slight disorder in 
our stomachs, and some wild sheep and hares and what 
looked to us like partridges, which we caught in our 
hands 'mid the long grass. The Kossacks assuring us 
that the sheep, which were lean and high and bow¬ 
necked, with wool black of color, were good to the taste, 
we pondered much how to dress them, for there was then 
not a stick in sight. Necessity being ever the mother of 
invention, an ingenious fellow gathered the dung from 
his horse, which had dried under the scorching rays of 
264 


A NEW DILEMMA 

the sun, lighted it, and though the heat was scarce suf¬ 
ficient to make the flesh tender, yet when we found it 
tasted more like roebuck than sheep, our mouths wa¬ 
tered as we tore it apart. 

We had come quite near to the country of the Turks, 
when His Majesty sends the General Poniatowski 1 and 
Klinckowstrom ahead in order that they might inter¬ 
view the Governor of Otjakov and inform him of our ap¬ 
proach. Great was the consternation of these faithful 
officers when this high Turkish official, living so near 
the place where we must cross the river, made reply that 
he durst not admit us into his country before he had 
sent for orders from his Sublime Lord in Constantinople. 
Here was a new and sad dilemma for us to face when we 
had at last, spent and famished, reached the river Bug 
ahead of the Muscovites. The Governor finally, how¬ 
ever, on receiving a communication from the Sultan 
sent his officials across the river to our camp with the 
information that His Majesty and his immediate serv¬ 
ants might cross, but no others, upon pain of having 
their heads struck off. 

The Turkish tradesmen, seeing our famished appear¬ 
ance and lean bodies, came to us in their barks laden 
with sheep and fowls and figs, as also wine and spices. 
Some among them laid gifts at the feet of His Majesty. 
For such supplies would they not only expect liberal 
gifts in return, but all the ducats they believed our 
purses contained. Being thus between the devil and the 

1 General Poniatowski was a colonel of King Stanislaus’s Swedish 
guards, a nobleman of rare merit, whose attachment to King Charles 
had caused him to offer his services to the Swedish King, and later, to 
follow him, without a command, into the Ukraine. 

265 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

deep biue sea, we took with force such of their boats as 
had crossed to us, ferrying our men over as fast as pos¬ 
sible, the Kossacks and Tartars swimming beside us, 
hanging on to the tails of the horses left them. The 
Muscovite horsemen appearing upon the horizon when 
some 900 were safely across, His Majesty and the chief 
officers got into the great boat sent for them and were 
thus the last to reach the land of the Turks. Those 
perforce left behind met a sorrowful fate, 300 being 
chased into the river and others dragged back to Mus¬ 
covy. 

Our journey to the town of Bender lay along the banks 
of the river Dniester. The small Turkish wagons we 
purchased served us for shelter during the heat of the 
day and for beds during such nightly hours as we could 
take for sleep. They became our homes, even as did the 
tub for the Grecian man of learning, and we heeded not 
the melancholy and ridiculous spectacle we presented 
when we crawled out from under them to make our 
ablutions in the early morning hour when first the 
trumpets sounded. 

Achmed III was now ruler over the Turkish Empire. 
He had been placed upon the throne in 1703, in place of 
his brother Mustapha. 

His Majesty feeling it was now but fitting to send a 
high emissary unto him, selected Mr. Neugeweber and 
wrote by him as follows: — 

This letter, signed by our Royal Hand, is to give Your 
Highness notice of our arrival in your dominions, and to in¬ 
form you of the misfortune that has befallen us in those of the 
Tsar, after we had thus far, as fortunately as justly, chastised 
the violation of the law of nations and the faith of treaties 

266 


LETTER TO THE SULTAN 

solemnly sworn to. After having forced King Augustus to 
renounce the Crown of Poland of which he was more the 
tyrant than the King, we gave that nation a king from 
amongst themselves who is a friend to your Sublime Porte, 
after we had chased the Tsar, his ally and colleague in per¬ 
fidy, from Poland, which he had set in a flame, and pursued 
him as far as the town of Poltava, to give him laws and break 
his pernicious designs; Heaven has permitted our army, 
diminished and fatigued by rough marches, and wanting 
the most necessary things for subsistence, when suddenly 
overwhelmed by a multitude three times more numerous and 
provided with all we lacked, in the end to lose the battle. 

Not being in a condition, nor near enough our provinces, 
to raise an army, and desirous to escape falling into the hands 
of the enemy, we are come to seek in this Empire under the 
august protection of Your Imperial Highness an asylum 
against his perfidy, and means of immediately joining the 
army we have left in Poland under the command of the 
worthy King whom we have given to that kingdom, to sup¬ 
port him on his throne, in case that he whom we have by 
force dethroned should attempt to re-ascend it, contrary to 
the faith of the treaties which we have made with him. 

What we seek for ourself, besides this asylum and these 
means, is the friendship of Your Imperial Highness, to whom 
we offer and promise on our part the most sincere attachment 
we are capable of. The first proof we think ourselves bound 
to give of this attachment to Your Highness is to inform you 
that if we allow the Tsar, whose ambition is no more guided 
by courage than by faith and honor, time to make use of the 
advantage our ill-fortune has given him over us, he will fall 
suddenly on some of your provinces, as he and his allies in 
perfidy have done upon some of ours, beginning an unjust 
war, not only without any declaration, but even in the midst 
of a peace established in the most solemn manner, at the time 
when he assured us by reciprocal ministers, that he was sin¬ 
cerely resolved religiously to observe the treaties, and desired 
us to do the same on our part. But the several forts which this 
Prince has built upon the Tanais, and upon the Palus Maeotis, 
and his new fleet, sufficiently proclaim his pernicious designs 

267 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

against your Empire without considering these examples of 
his perfidy. Things being in this posture, we see nothing more 
useful or proper to avert the danger with which this Prince 
threatens your august Empire, than an alliance between your 
Sublime Porte and our court, by virtue of which Your High¬ 
ness will put us in a condition to return safely into Poland and 
our provinces, under the guard of a body of your valiant horse, 
to strengthen our army which is commanded by a wise and 
faithful king, who will voluntarily form an alliance. Which 
being settled, we shall once more carry our just arms as far 
as the heart of Muscovy, to suppress the unjust ambitions 
of the Tsar. Finally, we will never forget the favors it shall 
please Your Highness to confer upon us, and will seek all 
opportunities and means to give real proof of our gratitude; 
and we shall always think it a particular honor and a real 
pleasure to subscribe ourself, 

Your faithful Friend, 
Charles, son of Charles XI. 

His Majesty having dispatched this missive, and his 
wound being greatly healed, we believed we must now 
give him the sad news of his beloved sister’s death. None 
daring however to break the news unto him directly, we 
spoke among ourselves, in a manner that he might 
hear us, of the Princess Hedvig Sophia of Holstein “of 
blessed memory.” The King quickly seizing our design, 
there was nothing more to hide, whereupon we gave him 
the letters we had ventured to conceal. How the news 
went the noble-minded Lord to heart is well-nigh in¬ 
describable and incredible. We had come to believe 
that he had grown so feelingless through the life in camp 
that no one’s death would any longer cause him con¬ 
cern, and furthermore, that the good training received 
in youth had made him absolute master of himself. We 
now discovered our mistake. Those who were nearest 
268 


THE KING'S GRIEF 

His Majesty were most surprised, for they had never 
seen him show anger, desire, joy, nor sorrow, nor the 
slightest change in humor or temper over his wound or 
even the disaster of Poltava. This loss, however, found 
the one weak spot in his armor, as did the arrow the 
heel of Achilles. He crept into his miserable wagon and 
wept, and for many days did he not speak except to give 
the necessary words of command, and those of us near 
his person dared never again mention the royal Prin¬ 
cess he had loved so greatly. 

He summons however the best courier in our com¬ 
pany, and gives him this pathetic and eloquent letter, 
which he commanded him to ride with to his sister Ulrica 
Eleanora in his own Swedish Kingdom, journeying as 
fast as his lungs and his stallion’s feet would carry him. 
In it the noble, breaking heart poured out its great 
grief: — 

Serenest Princess: 

Most gracious, beloved Sister! 

I beg my heart’s most dearest sister not to conceive it un¬ 
gracious of me that I again have for so long a while been un¬ 
able to wait upon her with my poor writing. The opportuni¬ 
ties by which I may send letters from here have not been 
secure, nor could we feel sure whether they would ever reach 
you. 

Thereunto must I confess, since I have now lost that hope 
with which I had consoled myself, namely, of never being 
so unfortunate as to survive what now I must, since then I 
have been so troubled that I could neither write nor mention 
the sorrow which I can never overcome until these now parted 
may once more be united. 

But I do wish that our Lord may sustain, comfort, and 
guard the sister of my heart, on whom now rests all my hope, 
and that He may never let me bear the sorrow of hearing 

269 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

aught but of the unchanged well-being of my heart’s dearest. 
I remain unto my death, 

My very dearest sister’s 

Humblest and most faithful brother and servant, 

Charles. 

The Governor of Bender, who styled himself the 
Seraskier, had, we conceived, received secret, gracious 
orders from his sublime master, for upon our approach 
to his city, our reception was most noteworthy. When 
we, now some 1500 Swedes and 3000 Kossacks, came 
near to this lovely city, the Governor rode out to meet 
us with great honor, surrounded by a large suite, on foot 
as well as on horseback, and by the shooting of many 
cannons. He had a long white beard, wore garments 
of green silk, as also a great turban upon his head, 
and his white Arab horse was accoutred equally well. 
The body-guards who walked on foot in front of the 
Seraskier were dressed in white cotton long coats, with 
wide scarlet breeches which hung down over their feet 
and which, when we later begged that we might examine 
them more .closely, we found to be fastened under the 
feet with socks of yellow leather of Morocco and slip¬ 
pers. Round their waists they wore silver girdles, three 
fingers broad, wherein were stuck fine knives. Also had 
they gilded shoulder-straps and silver-mounted sabres, 
wherein were set precious stones. They wore turban 
hats, some green and some red, wound around the ends 
with mull and golden threads. They seemed fresh 
young bucks, tall, swinging fellows, and had long and 
polite mustachioes above their mouths. 

When the Governor had come quite near, he alighted 
270 


RECEPTION AT BENDER 


from his horse and went forthwith to His Gracious Ma¬ 
jesty’s wagon, carrying out of respect both his hands 
crossed over his breast. Then he bowed most humbly 
to the earth before His Majesty of Sweden. After kiss¬ 
ing the covering that lay over the King in the wagon, 
and then His Majesty’s hands, he begs him on his own 
Lord’s behalf to be very welcome in his beautiful city. 

Thereupon were we escorted to a fine oak forest but 
a quarter of a mile outside the city, where many green 
tents were set up in a square, in the centre of which stood 
one great and beautiful double tent with six large gilded 
balls upon its top, lined throughout inside with carmine- 
colored cloth. This is presented to His Majesty by the 
Sultan. His Majesty has no sooner entered this tent, 
than the Seraskier’s guards arrive, bringing sugar con¬ 
fectionery as well as melons and other delicious things. 
Two companies of janissaries stationed in front of His 
Majesty’s tent give salvos with their muskets, upon 
which signal all the pieces on the walls around the city 
are fired off in the King’s honor. 

While we were greatly wondering at the marvels which 
thus all of a sudden betided us, there came a messenger 
from the Tartar Khan bringing another most rare and 
costly tent which was embroidered inside with gold and 
silver and divers colors of silk, as well as also figures of 
strange people and birds and animals, which was val¬ 
ued at six thousand dollars. Many musicians follow 
with all manner of instruments, whereupon they were 
to play every morning and evening for the pleasure of 
His Majesty. Then says the Seraskier to the King: “I 
have been commanded to behave to Your Majesty in 
271 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

all things as I would to my Master, the Emperor, were 
he present. Sire, be the least offense shown you during 
the time you are in my care, my head answers for it.” 

Thus honorably installed, we made crutches for His 
Majesty, and a leathern pocket stuffed with cotton in 
which he might place the wounded foot when riding. 

His Majesty gave his first attention to restoring the 
Divine services it had been our wont to hold. The morn¬ 
ing as well as the evening hours were appointed for 
the reading of the Holy Scriptures and Psalms, to which 
we were called by the music of the trumpeters and 
drummers. On Fridays would we have a sermon, and 
Sundays, two. His Majesty regulated also his house¬ 
hold and chancery and guard; there were to be two 
tables, one for the King and one for those of his officers 
and noblemen and high churchmen who were fed at the 
royal table. Fortune would have it that a great portion 
of the royal silver service had been brought safe from 
Poltava’s field. Wondrous to us was the hospitality of 
which we were to see so many proofs. For our suste¬ 
nance the Sultan ordered daily presented to His Ma¬ 
jesty five hundred reichsthaler, as well as also much 
fodder and great quantities of supplies. 

Also did His Majesty order his musicians to play for 
our diversion daily in the morning and evening. Some 
thirty musicians performed on all manner of instru¬ 
ments, — on violins, hautboys, trumpets, and kettle¬ 
drums, making a lively and pleasant noise as they 
sounded, — whereunto the Mussulmans would quickly 
answer by their musicians rushing out by our camp and 
making a high and strong harmony. 


CHAPTER XVI 

BENDER 

Now must I, for a short space, turn to the events 
which were taking place and affecting Sweden, while we, 
far away from her shores, were unable to give any suc¬ 
cor. Only the General Meyerfeldt had journeyed home 
to inform them of our condition. This time Neugeweber 
brought from the Grand Vizier in Constantinople a 
poignard studded with diamonds, which he gave to King 
Charles upon the day Mazeppa was laid out a corpse 
amid his howling wives. 

In Sweden there was frightful misery and starvation, 
for the harvest had failed, and the Danes had once 
more perfidiously declared war and blocked the North 
Sea to our vessels. Our people had no means of suste¬ 
nance, and must, in order to keep body and soul together, 
eat the very bark off the trees, which they dried and 
ground into meal, as well as also the tender buds of the 
trees, whereby there arose dangerous disorders of the 
stomach, typhoid and dysentery. The beggars wandered 
in immense hordes about the countrysides, like unto 
armies in time of war. In his castle at Potsdam, the 
King of Prussia, who now cast covetous eyes upon Swed¬ 
ish Pomerania, received not only Augustus and Peter, 
but also the King of Denmark, all now plotting our ruin. 
In Poland a new revolution had broken out; Augustus, 
having foully perjured himself, the Pope assisting him 
273 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

in this act of perfidy by absolving him from his oath, 
was returned in order once more to claim the throne. 
Such of our Baltic provinces as remained unto us were, 
alas, too soon to feel the effect of Poltava, for Viborg, 
Dunamiinde, Pernau, and Reval fell all into the hands 
of the Tsar and with them our entire provinces of Carelia, 
Livonia, and Esthonia. Not a single town or an inch of 
land could we longer claim on the eastern shores of the 
Baltic, and our enemies were already devising means 
whereby they might wrest from us our rich provinces on 
its southern borders. 

The Regency in Stockholm was, in faith, no better 
off than we poor wretches so far from the turmoil. 
France had been humbled, my Lord Duke of Marlbor¬ 
ough having just won the bloody field of Malplaquet. 
The Holy Roman Emperor, the German princes, as 
also Queen Anne and the States-General of the United 
Provinces, concluded a strange treaty at The Hague. 

All this we learned from such couriers as were not 
taken prisoners by Pole or Saxon or Muscovite upon 
their long road. His Majesty now appointed the ex¬ 
perienced, honest, learned and zealous von Miillern to 
attend to such matters as concerned us without, while 
the erstwhile hatter’s apprentice, Karsten Feif, directed 
our personal affairs. Attached to His Majesty were 
now also five generals, thirty-eight staff officers and also 
fifty-five others, and twenty-four drabants. There were 
also twenty preachers and twenty-eight gentlemen of 
the Chancery, besides the servants and soldiers. To 
these were added the Polish and Zaporovian allies, our 
camp constantly growing by many who had been res- 
274 


THE KING’S OCCUPATIONS 

cued, or ransomed from imprisonment, or reached us in 
divers manners, until we numbered several thousand. 
A goodly number of guests, indeed. 

His Majesty being quite recovered of his hurt rode 
once more, so that two or three horses stood each eve¬ 
ning, all spent and sweaty, in his stable. And as matters 
of state did not fill his day, he would constantly drill us, 
to the wonder of the Turks who streamed out of their 
city to watch our evolutions; or he would work out many 
a campaign and method of attack; or listen unto the 
young, amiable Baron Fabrice, of so gay a spirit, who 
had come to us from Holstein, read the tragedies of the 
great Corneille and Racine. Above all did His Majesty 
take pleasure in Mithridates, because of his courage and 
resolution in misfortune. But the works of Boileau he 
destroyed, this author having ventured to call the great 
hero Alexander wild and foolish. Evenings Poniatowski 
and Grothusen would be called to His Majesty to play 
the game of chess; this was a congenial whiling away 
of the time, for thereby King Charles exhibited those 
qualities so natural to him, such as foresight, cautious¬ 
ness, silence, and calculation. But the piece nearest 
to the King, His Majesty named the Field-Marshal, 
instead of the Queen, and thus was it called by the offi¬ 
cers. His Majesty would often lose deliberately because 
of his bringing the king into action, when he should have 
stayed behind. With the General Axel Sparre and Karl 
Gustaf Hard, did His Majesty also love to ride and con¬ 
verse in the scanty manner that was his custom. 

Praise be to God, His Majesty’s foot was now almost 
well, and^though he, because of the grievous hurt, did 
275 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

favor the one leg until his dying day, and this was ap¬ 
parent at such rare times as he was not a-horseback, yet 
did he derive no other inconvenience from it. 

The Turks having in their great admiration builded 
him a house where he might, during the storms and in 
the winter, divert himself with greater ease than in the 
frail tent whose fine trappings could not keep out the 
cold, His Majesty now set about improving his fortunes 
in earnest, hoping not only to return to his provinces, 
but also to bring disaster to Tsar Peter and his armies. 
His chief plan was to turn the Turks and Tartars 
against the Muscovites and let loose the innumerable 
Mussulman hordes against the southern provinces of 
the Tsar. ’T was no easy matter, for though the fortress 
of Azof in the possession of the Muscovites was a fester¬ 
ing sore to the Sultan, he having by its loss given over 
the key to the Black Sea, yet had he no stomach for 
the great risk of war, hoping by His Majesty being as 
it were within his power, he might with cunning obtain 
many concessions without declaring war. 

Night and day did His Majesty ponder much upon 
these weighty matters; indeed Rehnskold said unto 
poor Gyllenkrook, who so soon was to meet such great 
disaster, that no one could fathom the King’s dessein, 
for when he lay in peace and comfortable sleep, then 
did His Majesty work more with his thoughts than 
anyone could possibly imagine. 

First of all, His Majesty deemed it wise to send other 
cunning men to the Embassy in Constantinople where 
Neugeweber was trying to gain access to the Sultan, and 
find favor in his eyes. Among those that left us for this 
276 


PONIATOWSKI 


purpose was Poniatowski. Of him would I here say 
that he was both brave and high-hearted, adventurous 
and of most exquisite politics, knowing how to treat 
every man according to his desire. As a young maiden 
listens to her beloved, so did this noble colonel hang 
upon the lips of His Majesty. For many years to come, 
his eagerness to serve, his resolution and excellent con¬ 
duct never failed him or his master. The star of hope 
was ever rising upon his firmament and, though he was 
both hated and threatened by those Turks that plotted 
his destruction, he never faltered. Had his own country 
borne more like unto him, her fortunes would indeed 
have been different. 

By that obliging carriage and complaisance which 
brings down the drawbridge of the female heart and 
lets the besieger in, Poniatowski, lacking thereto neither 
artfulness nor gold, so captivated the heart of a young 
Jewess whose office was to feed with sweetmeats the 
Sultana Valide, that not only did she offer the Sultana 
these delicacies, but also many a letter dwelling upon 
the “bravour” and misfortunes of his great master, 
which awoke both compassion and admiration in her 
heart. And as such feelings spread like wildfire amid 
captive women of high degree, many a heart under silken 
tunic behind the walls of the imperial seraglio sighed 
for King Charles. When at the call of the priests at 
sunset they would face the holy city of Mecca and bow 
themselves down to the ground, at which time they 
would repeat their prayers, amidst them would they 
full privily manage to slip in “Allah, versina krak 
suet,” which doth mean, “God guard the King of the 
277 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

Swedes.” Some of the sweet lips could not refrain, 
between the embraces of their lord and master, to ask 
him with much ardor “when it would be his pleasure to 
help the wounded lion, lying outside his golden gates.” 

To assist this brave Adonis in his arduous labors came 
wise counsels and many a letter writ unto his influen¬ 
tial friends by the mighty Khan of the Tartars. For this 
Khan, who was a little fellow with a long gray beard 
and much knowledge and merriment in his heart, loved 
King Charles because of his courage, and he hated 
greatly the Muscovites for their perfidy and the much 
harm they did to his subjects. 

Great was the need of this powerful friend, for many 
were the wiles and intrigues and the tyranny of the 
Grand Vizier, Mehemet Ali. First he proposed to send 
His Majesty back to his lands by a great fleet, which we 
knew would not reach beyond the waters where sailed 
the galleys of Venice; and then did he ask why would we 
not be convoyed by the ships of the States-General, 
which their ambassador, Mr. Colyer, had offered? 

The hatred of the Grand Vizier grew apace as the 
Muscovite Ambassador, Mr. Peter Tolstoy, gave unto 
him not only kegs filled with gold, but other costly pres¬ 
ents, till his treasure-house was full and he might have 
purchased all within the Turkish Empire excepting 
alone the womenfolk, they being the property of the 
Sultan. 

Poniatowski’s high courage reaching almost to fool¬ 
hardiness, he now conceived the daring plan of deposing 
the Grand Vizier, though a failure was sure to cost him 
his head. He knew that this tyrannous fellow not only 
278 


A DARING PLAN 

was displeasing to the Mother-Sultana, but also that the 
Chief of the Black Eunuchs and the Aga of the janis¬ 
saries did hate him mightily, so that it was easy to incite 
them to speak against the Grand Vizier, as also the 
young favorite, Coumourgi Ali-Pasha, the son of a 
carrier of charcoal, as his name does signify, for in the 
Turkish tongue coumour means charcoal. God alone 
knows by what sleights and shifts the man made his 
way among the besetting perils of this intrigue; how oft 
and by what means he avoided knife, cord and poison, 
and withal made smooth the way for his accomplish¬ 
ment. Thus in time he set up a plan whereby to reach the 
Sultan and hand him a memorial which would plainly 
reveal his Grand Vizier’s heinous treatment of His Maj¬ 
esty, King Charles, and how deserving he was of safe 
escort by land as well as assistance against the Tsar. 

Poniatowski knew that the Sultan went into his 
mosque every Friday, surrounded by his soulaks , which 
are his guardsmen, wearing turbans with such high 
feathers that the populace cannot see their Lord. And 
now when anyone has aught whereupon he would 
humbly ask clemency, he writes upon a roll, and seeks 
to mix himself with the guards, holding on high the peti¬ 
tion or roll, but again more oft does the Sultan beckon 
to his Aga to charge himself with the petitioner. Small 
matters one durst not present; for them the complain¬ 
ant would risk having the offending hand cut off because 
of its presumption and impudence. Never has a minis¬ 
ter been complained of by a writ, and much less a grand 
vizier, for such a course were insanity. 

But Poniatowski wrote fully all that was in his heart 
279 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

concerning Mehemet Ali, as well as his beloved King. 
He hit upon taking an artless Livonian boy, which he 
had bought out of slavery; and, dressing him in Turkish 
clothes, he instructed him how to comport himself. 
Two drabants were likewise dressed in Turkish gar¬ 
ments, to spy out the best place where the boy might 
find success, and then they should go a bit from him, 
but not too far to see what befell. By their advice did 
the boy place himself just outside the door of the 
mosque upon his knees, with his memorial above his 
head. And the Sultan in coming forth from the recital 
of his prayers, saw the boy and, liking him, himself 
received the roll, and thrust it in his bosom, which was 
a good sign. 

A few days thereafter, while the Sultan was honor¬ 
ing Mehemet by dining with him, he suddenly boxes 
his ears, stating that it was because of his avarice. This 
was told Poniatowski by one of the servants in his pay. 
This was a second sign. Further, the Sultan wrote to 
the Khan of the Tartars to come forthwith to Constanti¬ 
nople, for he would take counsel with him. 

At this time did there also reach us good tidings from 
Sweden, where great events had gone forward. The 
King of Denmark had crossed the Sound and descended 
with a great army in our southern province of Scania, 
intending to invade the country now without army or 
master. 

But not alone did the old soldiers, returned from 
earlier campaigns and now pensioned, get new life and 
desire once again to buckle on their belts, but young 
peasant lads and boys ran with good-will from city and 
280 


STENBOCK’S VICTORY 


farm and had themselves enrolled as soldiers when they 
learned that Count Magnus Stenbock, who had the con¬ 
fidence of all, would lead them against the Danes. 

It came to be a bloody battle at Helsingborg, where 
the Buck 1 won the greatest and most glorious of his vic¬ 
tories, leaving the field as dotted with Danish corpses 
as with the crows at seed-time. This news reaching even 
to within the walls of the Seraglio greatly aided our 
good cause, as also did the popularity of His Majesty 
with the common rabble, who would daily congregate 
before their mosques and cry to be led to war against 
the Muscovite. As a first mark of his favor, the Sultan 
sent unto His Majesty twenty-five beautiful Arabian, 
Egyptian, and Turkish steeds, with costly trappings, 
but the gifts of swords and horses which came from the 
Grand Vizier were returned forthwith. 

A short time thereafter came at last the joyous tid¬ 
ings that Ali Pasha had been deposed, his immense riches 
which he had laid up for his own comfort here on earth 
had been seized by the Sultan, and Ali himself had 
probably received the fate he so richly deserved, of 
being strangled by the guards. Thus is proven, for so 
much we saw, that he who one day rules over a mighty 
province may, through the folly of his actions, upon the 
next be selling coffees and tobaccos from a booth. 

His place was filled for a while by the most excellent 
Numan Kuperli, who, feeling his new office too onerous, 
was shortly succeeded by Mehemet Baltadschi. This 
Mehemet, who was Pasha of Syria, came originally 

1 “The Buck,” was the popular name given Field-Marshal Stenbock by 
King and populace alike. — Ed. 


28l 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

from Florence where he was known to the good citizens 
as “Julio.” His father, having come into Turkey to 
trade in silken cloth, the child grew up in the faith of 
the Prophet, and as he increased in years and wisdom, 
had risen from one honorable office to another. 

Events were now to move more rapidly. As for Tol¬ 
stoy, he was half stripped of his clothes, set upon a 
sorry nag, to be exposed to the derision of the populace, 
and then imprisoned, where he belonged, within the 
fortress of the seven towers. 

The great captains of the realm having now assembled 
in Constantinople, there was held a solemn divan where 
it was decided to declare war upon the Tsar unless he 
accede to the demands of the Porte. Peter was to sur¬ 
render Azof after razing all the fortifications he had 
there erected, he should evacuate Poland and recognize 
Stanislaus as its rightful king, and restore unto the Kos- 
sacks their lawful freedom; he was then to destroy St. 
Petersburg, and give back to Sweden, not alone the 
conquered Baltic provinces, but also all the prisoners 
and trophies taken at Poltava. In case of Peter’s re¬ 
fusal, the Porte would march upon his empire and de¬ 
stroy his cities and peoples. 

Tsar Peter was much taken up with great business, 
for not only was his favorite dwarf married amid great 
ceremony in the palace of Prince Menzicoff to the dwarf 
of Catherine Alexiewna, but an order having been pub¬ 
lished throughout Muscovy compelling all Kneses, Bo¬ 
yars and noblemen to bring their male and female dwarfs 
to St. Petersburg, Tsar Peter was now occupied coupling 
them in such manner as he deemed fit and thereafter 
282 


THE KHAN’S LETTER 


celebrating the nuptials. Amid this great matchmaking 
and bedding and carousing did the courier arrive from 
Constantinople. 

It was told us that, when these demands reached 
Peter, his rage made him foam at the mouth and blood 
diffuse the white in his eyeballs. 

The Khan, most joyful at the march of events, wrote 
to King Charles: — 

To the Sovereign of the Everfaithful in the Grace of Jesus, 
the Mighty Protector of the Church, the King of Sweden, 
our gracious, dear and generous friend, Most Mighty King: 

Since we have sent our heartiest greeting and wishes for all 
prosperity, we desire that the Friendship and correspondence 
between us may be confirmed and bear much fruit. During 
my sojourn here, everything has gone forward with the great¬ 
est success and joy. For, God be praised, all our affairs have 
been completely forwarded and promised success by the Otto¬ 
man court. Our public affairs, on which Almighty God gave 
his blessing, have been consummated in the happy and blessed 
month of Beiram, in the capital itself. Which from your side 
must be kept in continual remembrance until we with joy 
and more news may see and divert each other. Written in the 
same month in Stamboul, in the beginning of the year 1222. 

Thus at the close of the year of our Lord 1710, King 
Charles was once more to see a mighty army march 
against the Muscovite, and to this end all was going 
well forward. Not so however in Bender or in Swe¬ 
den, where want and misery were sitting in the saddle. 

With the King so far and so long from home, all 
authority was likewise banished. The people were 
frightened and most dejected. By the battle of Pol¬ 
tava they had been awakened from their flattering 
dreams of conquest, and the awakening was terrible. 
283 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

Their amazement at the defeat left them between de¬ 
spair and remorseful outpouring in prayer. 

And then came the pest. 

After raging in London and Copenhagen, it had 
reached the Baltic ports, and as it drew nearer and 
nearer to our country, the Collegium Medicum of 
Stockholm found it wise to hold constant sessions and 
give much of their valuable time to discussing where¬ 
with it might be arrested, and how the ignorant and 
dirty people might be warned amid their foul living. 
The Collegium passed many a wise ordinance which 
should have hindered it from reaching us. Thus were 
two special pest-medici appointed, and they were given 
full command over the old corpse men. And also the 
barbers were well organized, the Societas Chirurgica 
being allowed, in these troublous times, eighteen mas¬ 
ters for the many apprentices and boys. Of the nine 
apothecaries, there should be four which were pest 
apothecaries, and from these the poor should obtain 
good and serviceable medicaments. Thus was our 
home, as it were, swept and garnished. 

Despite all this, the pest crept in among us, showing 
first its evil face along the southern shores and the 
islands on the coast. Therefore did our wise Collegium 
Medicum still further ordain that, to hinder all com¬ 
munication with the infested, they should paint upon 
the street-doors of their dwellings a white cross, as a 
warning that none should enter; under pain of death 
should the crosses be removed from the panels, and such 
as still lived in the houses and were yet well, should, 
in sallying forth to procure sustenance, if they were 
284 


MEASURES AGAINST THE PEST 

males, carry a white staff, and if women, have a white 
cloth bound over the mouth. There should be neither 
baptismal beer-feasts, nor funeral carouses, nor even 
wedding parties, and wherever cats or dogs were to be 
found, they were forthwith to be put to death, as they 
were prone to carry with them much contagion on their 
many prowls. The deaths continuing and even increas¬ 
ing, it was ordained that even the air under the Swedish 
heavens be purified. And for this, were all good burghers 
to burn brushwood and manure and other things that 
would give out smoke, and not alone should so be done 
in the houses, but also upon the market-places and 
common squares at the hours of seven in the morning, 
at noontide, and at five in the evening, before taking 
nourishment and at the ringing of the church bells. 
The Archbishop being asked what good counsel he 
might give, advised to take 

“ One ounce of Godly foresight, 

A pound of true penitence, 

Two pounds of good patience — 

to beat this fine in a mortar, to make thereof a salve or plaster 
and apply it twice a day, upon rising in the morning, and 
upon going to bed in the evening.” 

But all availed naught. The pest and starvation 
seemed to strive with one another for mastership in the 
miserable country. All day long, carts filled with the 
dead passed through the streets, surrounded by their 
carriers in black oil-cloth and preceded by a guard of 
honor, consisting of two of the worst women from the 
reformatory ringing bells, at which signal the houses 
where lay corpses were opened and the bodies thrust out 

285 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

into the cart. At last it grew so terrible that even noble 
maidens were infected by merely seeing from the palace 
windows the heads of the dead wobbling beneath at the 
back of the carts. Hunger was so great that one would 
see the babe tugging for nourishment at the breasts of the 
mother dead of starvation. 

For the populace there was indeed little food, as what 
could be found or taken forcibly from the people must 
be collected in the great warehouses for His Majesty’s 
armies. In Stockholm alone there died twenty thousand 
souls. 

But I must back to my King. 

At Bender, now that the war with Russia was going 
forward, our chief trouble was to find money; for though 
the Jews were both our eyes and ears, — and easy to 
recognize, they being forbidden the turban, —■ yet they 
did us but little service in our necessity to feed several 
thousand, seemingly having small faith in our promises 
of payment. Moreover, Mr. Grothusen, who was His 
Majesty’s treasurer, kept his accounts in a strange 
manner, being betrayed into this by loving, like his 
master, to dispense with a liberal hand. One day, 
when he presented his accounts to the King, there 
having been sixty thousand dollars in the treasury and 
but ten of these disbursed to the Swedes and janissaries, 
His Majesty makes inquiry as to the remaining fifty. 
Grothusen replies, he has himself used the remainder; 
whereupon His Majesty turning to me, who by chance 
was also in the royal presence, says: “We like that our 
friends make their accounts short, and approve the 
statement.” 


286 


THE NEED OF MONEY 


King Louis did indeed send us moneys, but the trans¬ 
action was a difficult one. His Most Christian Majesty 
had sent as ambassador to our camp a Mr. Desaleurs, 
who spoke but his own French tongue. King Charles, 
though thoroughly familiar therewith, replied unto him 
in Latin, which the Frenchman did not understand. An 
interpreter was however found, who translated the 
Latin spoken by His Majesty, and our payments were 
satisfactorily agreed upon. From the English merchants 
in Constantinople, we also obtained money, and further¬ 
more borrowed the great sum of gold left behind by 
Mazeppa, and from the Sultan himself a million dollars 
of the realm, which was equal to two million Swedish 
riksdaler in silver. To help this great need for money, 
the councillors in Sweden decided most humbly to re¬ 
quest of the Queen Dowager, and also of the Princess 
Ulrica Eleanora, mercifully to give up whatever pre¬ 
cious ornaments they possessed in order to relieve the 
terrible condition of the royal treasury. This they did 
full gladly, the good Princess declaring with tears in 
her eyes that she would as gladly give her life for the 
benefit of His Majesty, and of what worth to her were 
costly jewels and gold and silver? Wherever it was pos¬ 
sible, whether of Jews or Christian merchants, of the 
rich and kindly-disposed around us, as well as of foreign 
governments, we borrowed every ducat or dollar we 
could obtain, whatever might be the interest demanded 
thereon. Even unto this day, that I sit here writing my 
memoirs, is my poor country staggering under this debt, 
contracted by our hard-pressed monarch while in 
Bender. 


CHAPTER XVII 

THE FIGHT AT BENDER 

The great war had begun, and all our troubles were 
soon forgotten. Tartars, Kossacks, and Poles under Po- 
tocki were already, early in spring, burning and plunder¬ 
ing in the Ukraine, and the horse’s tail being hung out 
in Constantinople, the Turkish hordes were soon gath¬ 
ering from all the wide lands under the rule of the Sultan. 
In the Muscovite Empire, Tsar Peter had commanded 
the two blood-red banners to be waved above his head, 
so that his regiments also might gather from far and near. 
At Adrianople were at least 250,000 men, the Khan of 
the Tartars too there, in fine feather, at the head of his 
innumerable horsemen. The joy of the people was in¬ 
expressible. 

It is too long for me to tell how the folly of the Tsar 
led him to march his army through Wallachia, without 
supplies wherewith to feed them; how the Tartars swam 
the rivers and surrounded the Muscovites, and how 
Peter was finally led into a trap by the river Pruth, 
from which there was no escape. The heat of the summer 
was great; deep was the sand, and there was neither 
forest nor house nor water which might afford refresh¬ 
ment to the Muscovite. Greater and greater grew his 
hunger and thirst as he turned hither and thither to 
escape the tens of thousands of Turks and Tartars who 
hemmed him in on all sides. 

288 


TSAR PETER’S DESPERATION 


The Muscovites were still further impeded by the 
many Muscovite women who accompanied them, as also 
the great number of foreigners with their womenfolk 
and children. At last Peter burned his baggage and 
endeavored to retreat. But there were Tartars in a close 
circle all around him, and Turkish cannon upon all the 
heights. Seeing that all was lost, the Tsar rushed into 
his tent in desperation, giving orders to the guard to let 
no one enter. Then, falling in an epileptic fit, his face 
growing black as the earth, he foamed at the mouth and 
stabbed around him all he could strike, so that the at¬ 
tendants fled without. Before the brave Catherine en¬ 
ters, as it were to the wild beast in his cage, I would 
once more digress and relate somewhat as to her, which 
I know to be of the truth. 

A Swedish soldier by the honest name of Jens Rabe 
was furnishing provisions for one of our regiments in 
Riga, when he fell a victim to the charms of the plump 
widow Moritz, whom he forthwith married, begetting 
a daughter by her before he fell ill and died. The widow, 
being thus left without support, the young daughter, 
when twelve years old, was let out, first to serve in a 
hostelry, and later in the house of Master Gluck, who 
was Provost of the churches of Marienburg. Shortly 
after we had won the glorious battle by the Dima, the 
daughter Martha married a young Swedish corporal, 
who had seen her on the street and become enamoured 
of the roundness of her form and her sprightly answers. 
Now I pass to the time when the Muscovites under the 
Field-Marshal Scheremetoff had entered Marienburg; 
and this great commander sees her one day when she 
289 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

is so rash as to venture forth upon the street; and takes 
possession of her for six months’ time, when he was 
forced, to his great chagrin, to cede her to Menzicoff. 1 
With him she dwelt in great comfort, free from all fear 
of new violence during the space of two years. Next 
comes Tsar Peter, who, dining with Menzicoff, spies 
Martha a-peeping through the door at his great per¬ 
son, and having ordered her pulled into the dining- 
hall [by the guardsman, he tells the wench she may 
continue to look upon him for some time to come. 

Thus goes it in the world — those of the lowest and 
humblest origin being oft elevated to the greatest honors 
and glory. Martha served the Tsar Peter in such man¬ 
ner that he soon became aware of her great and resolute 
spirit. In this strange slave, who knew neither book nor 
quill, did he see the qualities of a great sovereign, albeit 
she had known but few of those virtues which enhance 
the value of her sex in the eyes of men. Right sensibly 
he now rid himself of his spouse Ottokefa, and in the 
year 1707, as I have previously related, did he declare 
Catherine Alexiewna as she now styled herself, his law¬ 
ful spouse before God and man. Scarce was there matter 
of state or import in which Peter did not consult with 
her, nor campaign in which she was not by his side. By 
the softness and complaisance of her nature, as well as 
by her lively humor, did she sweeten all about her, yes, 
even bring her great spouse back to reason when the 
gloomy fits of madness would overtake him and devils 
enter into him. 

1 Originally a pastry-cook’s apprentice, rising to become general and 
prince, and finally dying in misery in Siberia. 

290 


CATHERINE ALEXIEWNA 


I did never see her, for I was at Bender when the 
great affair by the Pruth took place, as well as also, God 
be praised, escaped from the field of Poltava; but the 
Countess of Baireuth wrote unto me of Catherine that 

she was little and plump and much burned by the sun. One 
needed but to see her to divine her low origin. She was so 
rigged out, one might mistake her for a German play-actress 
and her dress might have been bought from a pedler of old 
clothes. It was dirty and covered with silver embroideries. 
The front of it over her great bosom was adorned with precious 
stones which formed a network studded with many small 
jewels. She also wore a dozen orders and just as many pictures 
of saints fastened on all over her outer garments, so that one 
thought one heard the approach of a mule when she made any 
movement. Indeed, with her round figure, her sly, pugged 
nose, low forehead and plump bosom, she looks all the world 
like a good cook and hostess of a German inn. 

In truth, the great wisdom which lay in Tsar Peter’s 
government showed itself also in his holding fast 
Catherine Alexiewna. For not only did she keep clean 
his linen and mend his shirts, but in later days she drove 
his enemies out of the Empire and put order in the prov¬ 
inces. And I have lived to see in these latter days, when 
my beloved King has so long lain dead, the same genius 
which raised Catherine to be Empress of all the Russias, 
lead her, upon the death of Peter, to claim for herself 
the Empire. And I have seen Europe marvel that a 
woman could, without knowing how to read or write, 
yet fill with glory a great throne. I will now proceed 
with my memoirs. 

After Peter had raged in his tent for the space of two 
hours, Catherine, who knew no denial, comes to the 
guard and demands entrance; but he fearing greatly to 

291 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


admit her, she gives her solemn oath to be answerable 
for the consequences. She is no sooner inside than she 
throws herself down, bathed in tears. Peter then raising 
her up, she takes on a happier mien and begs him to call 
his generals together to listen to her counsel. This order 
was forthwith carried out, and as soon as the audience 
was over, Catherine writ a letter to the Grand Vizier 
requesting an armistice for some days. Then, gathering 
together all her jewels and precious stones, and all the 
gold and silver upon which she could lay her hands, with 
the furs of sables and black foxes, she sent them with 
the letter unto the Grand Vizier. 

Despite the rage of the brave Khan of the Tartars, 
the Turkish cannon are shortly ordered to cease their 
fire, and the articles of peace are drawn up. Now, both 
Poniatowski and Potocki had been in the thick of the 
fray, being among the officers of the Khan. Seeing the 
Tsar so safely bottled up by the Pruth, they had dis¬ 
patched couriers to His Majesty at Bender to bring him 
the good tidings, which as soon as King Charles had 
read, he mounts his horse and arrives where the council 
was being held, even as the terms of peace had been 
signed, but while the Muscovites were yet amongst 
us. 

The Grand Vizier, hearing to his dismay and rage that 
the King of Sweden was there, rid out to meet him and 
do him honor. But His Majesty made as if he did not 
see him, riding his horse straight into the great tent of 
the Grand Vizier. Dismounting there, he seated himself 
uppermost upon the sofa, under the holy banner of Ma¬ 
homet. The Vizier had ordered the banner of Mahomet 
292 


CHARLES’S PROTEST 


to be brought out of the treasury, where it is preserved 
as their holiest possession, for they say this banner was 
borne by the Angel Gabriel to Mahomet when he was 
once in a furious engagement with Christians, as a sign 
he would gain the victory. It should only be carried in 
sorest need, and then all over seven years of age who 
would be called true Mussulmans should list under it 
or be held for renegades. The Grand Vizier and the 
Khan did also sit down, while all the others remained 
standing. 

Says His Majesty, “ Here is a fine army assembled. It 
is a shame ’tis not better employed”; to which the 
Grand Vizier replied that God had given it unto him. 

The King returns very quick upon him. 

“It is not necessary that it continue longer fighting, 
affairs having been so happily settled,” said the Grand 
Vizier. 

Thereupon King Charles, looking him straight in the 
eye, which was to no man’s liking, said: “ I hear you have 
made peace, and my interests have been neglected.” 

The Vizier, averting his gaze, answered, “ I have won 
so much for the Porte, that I am satisfied.” 

“And you could have won a thousand times more, 
for you had the Tsar and his whole army in your hand,” 
spoke bravely the King: for he knew not fear, either in 
speech or action. 

“Who would govern the Tsar’s kingdom if I took 
him prisoner?” replied the Grand Vizier. 

“You need not bother your head about that,” an¬ 
swered King Charles. 

And the Turkish generals gazed at each other in 
293 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

amazement, but dared not look up at the Grand Vizier 
who remained silent. 

“Give me liberty,” continues His Majesty; “there 
may yet be time to save my cause, and I will defend 
it before the Sultan. It shall not cost you a man, for I 
know where I can at once gather people who will follow 
me. 

And those Poles who were there amidst the generals 
told me that a strange tingling of the blood was felt in 
the veins of all who listened, were they friend or foe, so 
that they unwittingly gripped the hilts of their swords, 
and their hearts beat against their ribs. They would 
have run out and followed King Charles unto heaven 
or hell, his words having sounded like a trumpet-call 
down into their souls. 

But the Grand Vizier thought of his great treasures 
and those others which Catherine Alexiewna had prom¬ 
ised him; so he spoke: “No, ’tis too late, we must now 
abide by the peace we have concluded.” 

When the King rose from under the holy banner, the 
Mussulmans bent down to the earth, and the Grand 
Vizier looked him not in the face as he went out to his 
charger. While he was returning to Bender, the Tsar 
was marching away with flying banners and music play¬ 
ing, but the janissaries and Tartars made much loud 
complaint, saying it was a shame that the brave King 
who was their guest had been so miserably holpen. 

A great hatred for King Charles entered now the heart 
of Mehemet, the Vizier, and he wrote unto us in Bender 
that our supplies would be cut off and His Majesty 
should return to Sweden by Poland, the Tsar having by 
294 


MEHEMET’S DOWNFALL 


the glorious terms of peace promised him safe-conduct 
through the Republic. Unto the Sultan had the Khan, 
as also King Charles, written full particulars of all 
that had gone forward and the villainy of the Grand 
Vizier, but the Sultan feared doing aught as long as the 
great army was under the command of his minister. So 
he bided his time, bestowing upon the Grand Vizier 
much praise, as also costly gifts, until such time as the 
army was dispersed and the Grand Vizier within his 
power. Then did this rascal receive his just deserts. 
His secretaries had their heads cut off and set up on 
stakes on the walls of the seraglio, their bodies being left 
three days in the streets to be kicked and spat upon. 
All the Tsar's money and jewels were placed in the im¬ 
perial treasury; Mehemet’s house was given over to the 
janissaries to plunder; while he himself was sent to 
Mitylene as a prisoner, where he haply died of misery 
and great mortification. Jussuf Pasha was made Grand 
Vizier, and the good Khan of the Tartars was given a 
red silken coat lined with black sables and a sword inlaid 
with diamonds. 

But it is high time that we retrace our steps and see 
what was going on in the royal headquarters at Bender 
whilst all the military preparations had gone forward 
’mid the Turks, and the campaign had ended in so 
melancholy and disgraceful a manner. 

Unto the distracted regency in Sweden had His Ma¬ 
jesty writ constantly in relation to the new levies to be 
made, the moneys to be raised, and the armies to be 
set on foot, as also the new fleet to be manned and 
provisioned. But the poor regents were indeed at their 
295 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

wits’ ends, although they would full gladly have sac¬ 
rificed all they had themselves. With King Charles 
so far away, the ship of state was without a rud¬ 
der, drifting most pitifully upon the sea of northern 
disaster. 

Early and late His Majesty was busy, rising at three 
of the clock to occupy himself with affairs of importance. 
His little city at Bender had now been builded accord¬ 
ing to his own plan. The royal dwelling was a fine stone 
house in the centre, with chambers in the style of the 
Court of King Louis as well as of the Sultan, and filled 
with many costly gifts he had received. Next thereto 
came the great chancellery, also of stone, and a spa¬ 
cious kitchen, where two master-cooks ruled over their 
apprentices, boys, and scullery fellows. The little build¬ 
ing close by was the King’s silver-chamber, and ad¬ 
joining were the larder and the cellar. To the south 
lay the two great stables, which contained twelve swift 
courier or post horses. Close by were naturally the 
dwellings of the stable-boys, saddle-grooms, and head 
grooms. Then came the dwellings of the soldiers, who 
lived two in each bunk by the sides of broad streets 
with Swedish names. A big square lay in the middle, 
around which were the houses of the high officers. The 
Turks and Tartars and Kossacks also had somewhere 
places in which to sleep when they therefor had time 
and permission. 

With many matters, as aforesaid, was His Majesty 
occupied. Into the far East did he send an expedition 
of learned officers, to study and make drawings of the 
marvels in Palestine and Egypt, and thus bring knowl- 
296 


A PEACEFUL EXPEDITION 

edge of strange and wondrous things to those at home 
who thirsted after learning. 

His Majesty charged the travellers in particular to 
make careful designs of the tomb of our most blessed 
Saviour and the city of his birth, as well as also of the 
course of the Jordan, the forests of Lebanon, and the 
hills of Nazareth; likewise to take many careful notes 
when they beheld the pyramids, columns, obelisks, 
sphinxes, and the tombs of the mummies. When they 
passed through the city of Troy, so dear to His Majesty 
from the leaves of the great Greek, they were to see all 
the rarities this most ancient town afforded, that they 
might upon their return, of evenings for many a month, 
read to His Majesty of the wonders of that city, in whose 
campaigns he had so often ’gloried. In the art of paint¬ 
ing did he also take much interest, and also in the many 
designs sent him by the excellent Tessin, all relating 
to the rebuilding of the palace at Stockholm, which 
had suffered so much from fire while King Charles 
the Eleventh of blessed memory still lay unburied 
therein. 

The great Turks who came to make respectful visits 
showed much astonishment that no seraglio had been 
builded for a flock of womenfolk, or any animal-house 
for lions and leopards; but His Majesty felt no need of 
either, and in truth, having no seraglio, he escaped the 
pangs of jealousy that oft kept the high Turkish officers 
awake during prowling hours. His Majesty would offer 
his guests — who, after leaving their slippers without, 
were sitting with crossed feet upon the rugs we had 
ordered spread — all manner of luscious fruits, such 
297 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

as grapes, melons, figs, walnuts, almonds, lemons, pome¬ 
granates, and other delicacies, and would thereto have 
his trumpeters blow sweet music. Seldom did the 
Turks eat meat, for being very abstemious, the milk of 
the ass would be their habitual nourishment. Not so 
however the Tartars, who, when not fed for several 
days, would between man and wife devour a whole 
sheep, eating when invited until rolled out of the house, 
from the very pains in their intestines. 

Little comfort did His Majesty derive from the am¬ 
bassadors of the Christian powers, who should indeed 
have been as brothers unto him. The French ambassa¬ 
dor alone pleaded his cause. Austria cared not for the 
misfortunes of the nation which, since the days of the 
glorious Gustavus Adolphus, had been the head of the 
Protestant faith; England and the States-General must 
plot the ruin of Sweden because of her desire to trans¬ 
form the Baltic into a mare clausum; Prussia cast long¬ 
ing eyes upon Swedish Pomerania and Stettin; Han¬ 
over coveted our good cities of Bremen and Verden; 
while Russia and Saxony were up to every villainous 
trick in Constantinople of which the fiend incarnate 
were capable. 

His Majesty was much discomfited and sorrowful 
when he here heard of the death of the little Prince, 
though all he said, as he turned to ride forth by himself 
was, “He was the best of my friends!” After the battle 
of Poltava, Prince Max Emanuel had with a broken 
heart determined to return home to his own principal¬ 
ity of Wurtemberg, but he had died upon the long jour¬ 
ney. And here would I break off in my story to say, that 
298 


DEATH OF THE LITTLE PRINCE 

the short life of this excellent youth was the tale of a 
hero, and like a lovely dream. His memory will ever be 
cherished by posterity. His generous free temper won 
him the love of all, while his bravour gave him the honor 
and admiration of the soldiers. His modesty in good 
fortune and his excellent conduct in all circumstances 
were examples to his comrades. 

Over his grave those who knew and loved him and 
our great Charles have had inscribed: 11 Una anima, 
una mens in duobus corporibus visa sit.” Peace be unto 
his soul! 

From Sweden came letters and gifts, the Princess 
Ulrica Eleanora having bethought herself of sending 
His Majesty not only a wig but also a skull-cap. He 
knew not what to do with them, loathing much the run¬ 
ning of sweat behind the ears. The Princess’s letter 
showed His Majesty however which way the wind blew, 
for she wrote in this manner: — 

I have so oft commenced and again thought to abstain 
from writing, but because of Your Majesty’s great grace and 
the tenderness you have hitherto shown your servant, do I now 
take courage. I venture to fly to Your Majesty’s brotherly 
and fatherly care, with the humblest prayer that Your Ma¬ 
jesty not only will well read this to the end, but also give your 
gracious consideration to my very humble question, as it con¬ 
cerns my present well-being. Despite my bashfulness I am 
forced myself to present it. With more than a timid heart must 
I confide in Your Majesty. Her Majesty the Queen has not 
had the strength to write to you in the matter, but has ordered 
me so to do, although I would greatly have wished to escape so 
doing, it being far more decent for Her Majesty the Queen. 

First I would ask Your Majesty to consider how deserted 
I should be if the Queen, who is daily failing, should, as 
seems very like, soon pass away. 

299 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

Many suitors have been proposed to me, 1 but either they 
have not presented themselves, or their position has offered 
no advantage. The one Her Majesty now proposes, 2 in an¬ 
other letter to Your Majesty, seems the only one whose house 
can place one in a more advantageous posture, for he will rule 
over a lovely country when the Lord his father is no more, 
and he himself is of universal good repute and highly con¬ 
sidered for his bravery in this war. He is thereto almost the 
only one of all German gentlemen who is reported as having 
lived a good and virtuous life with his former spouse. He is 
also older than I. Your Majesty knows what is the fate of 
princesses, that they are more counselled according to the 
advantage of the state than for what may be to their own 
advantage and satisfaction, and that for political considera¬ 
tions they often suffer disappointment and unhappiness. 

I now know nothing more than that I, under God’s dis¬ 
posal, lay all this in Your Majesty’s brotherly and fatherly 
care, with the assurance that, in case Your Majesty in your 
answer does not find this match advantageous, I will take 
it in good part without spleen, and shall try to leave all further 
thought upon the subject. 

His Majesty, gathering from this letter the lovesick 
condition into which Her Royal Highness, the Princess, 
had fallen, gave in the kindness of his heart his gracious 
sanction to the marriage. I dare not say Her Highness 
knew all her lover’s weaknesses, as for instance the 
manner in which he gained admittance to the closets 
of young ladies during their hours of toilet. Being a 
wonderful mimic, he could imitate the voices of their 
mammas or governesses so skilfully, that the ladies 
would often admit him, little suspecting what a wolf 
in sheep’s clothing they were letting in. 

1 Prince Charles of Denmark; the Hanoverian prince, later King 
George II of England; the Crown Prince of Prussia, and Prince John 
William of Saxe-Gotha. 

2 Prince Fredrik of Hessen. 


300 


THE SULTAN RECEIVES FUNCK 


Until her death did this excellent Princess show honor 
and obedience to the amourous gentleman she now 
married. 

In our camp were some 1400 Swedes, 4000 Poles, and 
a like number of Kossacks. His Majesty was now sore 
troubled how, without moneys or proper escort, to con¬ 
duct them through Poland to his own lands. This, how¬ 
ever, the Grand Vizier in his complaisance did shortly 
arrange, for the Sultan sent to King Charles twelve 
hundred purses 1 of silver, two hundred chariots for 
the baggage, five hundred fine horses and a number of 
camels, and gave orders unto a sufficient number of 
Turks and Tartars to be our escort. Our ambassador, the 
Funck, was also received by the Sultan with much honor 
and extraordinary ceremonies. At the hour of three in 
the morning did he leave his quarters, and proceed by 
water to the seraglio, where a horse was awaiting him, 
which he mounted. He was followed by all the Swedish 
people of the embassy on foot, as well as also a great 
lot of French merchants drawn thither by curiosity. In 
this manner Funck rid through the first courtyard of 
the seraglio to the second gate, where he dismounted by 
an elevated marble bench, for no one dares ride into the 
inner courtyard. This formed a fine square filled with 
laurels and cypresses and other umbrageous trees, under 
which strayed roebucks and stags. Here Funck thought 
of his hunting dogs and how their mouths would have 
watered. On all sides were wide recesses supported by 
marble columns under which stood, careless and idle, 

1 The Turkish purse of about the year 1700 contained 500 piastres, 
or about 1500 French livres of that time. 

301 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

both janissaries and others. On one side was there a 
council-chamber in which sat, falsely smiling, the Grand 
Vizier, attired in a white satin suit lined with sables. In 
passing by him our ambassador, dissembling his anger, 
gave him a nod. 

Now, at the farther end of the courtyard sat a company 
of pashas in white, gold-embroidered coats and white 
trousers. Funck was made to stop when he reached them, 
and there came running servants who did indeed wear 
garments far finer than even the King’s councillors have 
in Stockholm. They brought bags of money, from which, 
as soon as they were set down, the pashas began to pay 
very many servants. For it is the custom to pay the 
servants when a foreign ambassador is given audience, 
in order to impress him, not only with the great riches 
and grandesse of the Porte, but also with the number of 
his attendants. The gold and silver being distributed, 
the Grand Vizier from his council-hall wrote a billet to 
the Sultan to inform him that the Swedish ambassador 
was there. The Sultan’s reply was carried high in the 
air, and all rose and bowed humbly to do homage 
to it. 

The chamber of audience where Funck was admitted 
was small and dark. He said, the floor of it was set 
down into the ground and covered with such fine red 
satin bordered with gold that it seemed a sin to walk 
upon such costly stuffs. The windows were of real glass, 
though all of those of the other fine halls were of paper. 
In the white turban upon the Sultan’s head were stuck 
two black feathers. When Funck arrived, two Capuzi 
Passi seized him by the arms and led him in before the 


302 




THE SWEDISH AMBASSADOR FUNCK RECEIVED IN AUDIENCE BY THE GRAND VIZIER 
The Janissaries receiving their Salaries during the Audience in order to impress the Swede 



















































































































































































































- I 



































. 1 





























IN THE ROYAL PRESENCE 

throne; so here he makes proper reverence. This over, 
they draw him some steps backward to a respectful 
distance, where they release him, though from a dis¬ 
tance, stationed among the black eunuchs and dum- 
bars, they did not cease watching him even as a worthy 
cat would a mouse-hole. 

When now all had become quiet, Funck gave His 
Majesty greeting in eloquent Latin. The Sultan, who 
sat upon his throne, not only permitted him to see him in 
profile as was customary, but actually turned his full 
face with laughing mouth toward Funck. While our 
ambassador was in this manner taking note of how pleas¬ 
antly the Sultan was disposed and with what com¬ 
plaisance the great ruler’s mind dwelt upon the business 
in hand, the Munzer Aga approached the Sultan and, 
after a most humble reverence, whispered some words 
in his ear. To these the Sultan made no other response 
than a very slight horizontal movement with the palm 
of his right hand upward. 

When the time for departing from the hall of audience 
arrived, the Capuzzi Passi again took Funck by his 
arms. Descending the stairs, our ambassador did make 
note of nine heads which had recently been severed 
from their bodies and were placed in a row by the side 
of the door of exit. This gave the Funck the explanation 
of the gesture just made by the Sultan, and he thanked 
the Lord on high he was not in the service of so laconic 
and terrible a master. 

Funck passes again through the courtyard, where the 
Grand Vizier sits in his white satin garb, and this time 
he shows his teeth twice in smiling at Funck, meaning by 
303 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


this he was to stop, for the Vizier desired to speak with 
him. Thereupon he invited Funck to dinner. 

This meal did take place so silently that not a word 
was spoken, nor even a hiccough heard. The only sound 
came from the bearing on and off of the victuals, and this 
was done with great order and quiet. Indeed, all present 
sat as if they had been hewn in stone, their eyelids well- 
nigh closed, for the reason that the Sultan had seated 
himself up under the roof behind a small glass window in 
order to see Funck eat, and this all his Turkish sub¬ 
jects knew, as also that they would be beheaded if they 
dared raise their eyes. Funck, who related to me all that 
went forward, did catch sight of the Sultan as he was 
about to swallow a titbit, but being both wise and sly, 
he made as if he had not observed him. Nevertheless 
Funck was sad that he could not enjoy his food with 
merry discourse and laughter. 

The Grand Vizier and Funck ate alone, while the 
others ran up to another table where they were given 
all manner of victuals, some in bowls and some in their 
hands, and some in small sacks which they carried with 
them. Now came a table servant and placed over the 
knees of Funck and the Grand Vizier a colored towel, 
long enough to reach all around their waists. Thereupon 
the servants fell upon their knees and held the towel 
taut, even as we do with a great blanket when in coun¬ 
try games the swains toss their sweethearts up into 
the air. Upon the towel was placed thin bread which had 
been baked in ashes, and each one received a whole 
handful of wooden spoons and a tin dish with three 
blades of green grass. Funck thought this strange fare, 
304 


ORIENTAL TABLE MANNERS 

but the Grand Vizier made signs by patting his abdo¬ 
men and rolling his eyes pleasantly around, that chew¬ 
ing of them was good for the quieting and dispelling 
of the acids in the stomach that take away appetite. 

Thereupon came a dish with salad and one with 
roasted meat called cabal . Funck soon saw that he who 
tore first at the steak with his fingers or the knife he had 
by him, got the titbits, and he who swallowed quickest 
got the lion’s share, so he did his best, getting many a 
piece of fat well into his mouth just as the Grand Vizier 
would reach out for it. After the meat came some thirty 
other courses, with fine baking and rice and honey, but 
of all they could not eat, for their stomachs were in¬ 
flated and becoming painful. This made Funck right 
sad, for the confectionery was of preserved fruits, such 
as he had never seen before. But the ambassador’s 
gullet was as full as that of a gorged vulture. The meal 
being finished with coffee, they washed their faces and 
hands with rosewater and the servants smoked their faces 
and heads full with all manner of sweet-smelling incense. 
The Grand Vizier must hasten to his harem, but Funck 
returns full sadly to the loneliness of his own abode. 

And here would I further relate, being amid bloody 
scenes, that the daughters and the sisters of the Sultan, 
of whom there are myriads and who are married to the 
viziers and great nobles of the realm, do all inhabit their 
own palaces; but of sons and brothers there are none, 
for the male child, as soon as his sex is ascertained at 
birth, is forthwith strangled, and by the hands of the 
same physician who delivers the mother. This is a well- 
established law never to be violated. 


305 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


Disquieting rumors now reached His Majesty that, 
not only did the Republic of Poland and King Augustus 
intend to refuse him free passage, but that Tsar Peter 
had withdrawn none of his army from Poland as stipu¬ 
lated by the Peace at Pruth, but on the contrary, had 
come to a new agreement with the Grand Vizier by 
virtue of which he might leave his troops there for the 
capture of King Charles. This did Funck now bravely 
confide to the Sultan, who secretly sent messengers to 
ascertain whether or not J ussuf’s perfidy was such as our 
ambassador had reported. And being convinced of the 
truth, he did, in the month of November in the year of 
Our Lord, 1712, cause Jussuf to be deposed and strangled 
and his riches to be taken to the seraglio by the Kas- 
nadar Agi, not one of the least amid the black eunuchs. 

No sooner were the ambitions of this powerful man 
brought to a violent end than our good King’s belief in 
humanity must once more be shaken. A second war 
had been declared ’gainst the Muscovites. The janissa¬ 
ries had been purchased. The Sultan had sworn that 
he would descend from his throne sooner than not fight. 
Then did we learn by letters we had seized from Tartar 
prisoners, that our friend the Khan was bargaining to 
sell His Majesty to King Augustus upon his way home. 
Each day upon the road would he detach a portion of 
the escort until Poles and Saxons could face and over¬ 
power the little band like a pack of ravenous wolves 
from out of the surrounding forests. The Muscovites 
yielded to the Turkish demands and peace was de¬ 
clared, while the Khan had the effrontery to say that 
he would throw his Majesty with all the contents of his 
306 


A PERILOUS SITUATION 


house into the Dniester if he did not instanter depart 
from his kingdom. 

Such was our own perilous situation, while at home 
our affairs looked with a very dismal aspect, for the 
Danes had broken into the Duchy of Bremen and taken 
our fair city of Stade, while Saxons and Muscovites sat 
down before Stralsund. However, we took heart again 
on hearing that General Stenbock had sailed from 
Sweden with a great army for Pomerania, and, after a 
great deal of discourse with the Saxon General Flem¬ 
ing, had with rare skill concluded a truce. Indeed it did 
appear as if all our enemies but Peter, being heartily 
weary of war, would give us the most honorable terms, 
were it not for the stumbling-block of King Stanislaus 
and his own lost crown. This most magnanimous Mon¬ 
arch, wishing above aught else the speedy delivery of 
His Majesty from out of all his troubles and misery en¬ 
countered so far from home, offered to abdicate. This 
did relieve a full score of ambassadors, even as would 
at times the purging waters of German springs. Stanis¬ 
laus had said full nobly, “Quand a moi, qui ai servi 
jusqu’ici d’instrument & la gloire des armes de la Suede, 
je ne pr6tends pas etre le sujet funeste de leur perte.” 
Word was sent of all this to King Charles at Bender, so 
that he might see how all hearts in Sweden were filled 
with hope, and Europe did heave a joyful sigh of relief. 
Unto it all King Charles answered to Stenbock: — 

We have received your letter and see from it that you really 
design to make peace with the enemy. We should never have 
imagined that you, without our orders, would have considered 
such an unheard-of and indefensible step. As soon as this 

307 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

reaches your hands, without consideration of aught else, 
or what you may have bound yourself to, you shall at once 
seek opportunity to dislodge the enemy. We have so much 
confidence in you that we believe you will do all the more to 
retrieve the mistake which you have made and give us proof 
that you in all matters will carry out our will. 

This time we will not lay up against you what has already 
taken place, knowing that it has not been committed out of 
bad will, but from too hasty counsel. With which we commit 
you graciously to the care of the Almighty God. 

All illusions were thus dispelled and our hopes shat¬ 
tered. 

Stenbock did in a most masterly fashion display his 
great skill as a general and defeat in a great battle the 
Danes and Saxons at Gadebusch, as also bum the city 
of Altona; but it profited him but little, for his troops 
were few, and Muscovites as well as other allies hem¬ 
ming him into the fortress of Tonningen, his whole army 
must finally capitulate and he himself, after his long 
and glorious career, die sorrowful in a Danish fortress. 


CHAPTER XVIII 

THE KALABALIK 

The Khan of the Tartars, the Grand Vizier, and 
the Seraskier of Bender did now set about in earnest to 
force His Majesty’s journey through those lands where 
he must, through their joint villainy, fall into the hands 
of his enemies. Between them, their influence and cun¬ 
ning was such that they finally succeeded in poisoning 
the Sultan’s mind and turning his heart against King 
Charles. 

Even as the Sobieski princes had been decoyed by 
King Augustus, so was His Majesty to be betrayed by 
the Khan and Seraskier into the hands of one of King 
Augustus’s generals, de Siniawski, and great were the 
riches which were thereafter to be conferred on these 
Turkish Judases. 

The Sultan threw poor Funck into a dark and horrible 
prison and summoned a great divan which he addressed 
in this manner: — 

Scarcely had I known of the existence of the King of Sweden 
before his defeat at Poltava when he implored me to grant 
him an asylum in my empire. I have not, I believe, any 
need of him, nor have I reason to love or to fear him. With¬ 
out however consulting other motives than those of a Mussul¬ 
man’s hospitality and generosity, which spread the blessings of 
their favors on both great and small, I have received this King, 
and given him succor in all things, as well as also his ministers, 
his officers, his soldiers and his people, and for three years and 

309 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

a half have I ceaselessly loaded them with gifts. I have given 
him an escort with which he might pass to his own lands, as 
well as the necessary horses, chariots and supplies. This King 
asked me for a thousand purses, in order to make necessary 
payments, but I sent unto him twelve hundred purses. After 
having received them from the hands of my Seraskier at Ben¬ 
der, did he demand a thousand more, and seeking every pre¬ 
text and excuse, this Prince does now state to my Sublime 
Porte that his escort is too small, when on the contrary it is 
too large. Is it now against the laws of hospitality to oblige 
this Prince to keep his word, and if he will not leave our 
empire with good words, to force him thereto? 

To this did the divan answer: No! To Bender word 
was sent that His Majesty must pack and leave forth¬ 
with, with the army of two thousand janissaries, twelve 
thousand Turks and Tartars, and fourteen cannon. 
With them the janissaries brought small red, blue, yel¬ 
low, and white banners, as also a very large one of 
blood-red color, as a sign that they would follow our 
little band till the last drop of their blood had been 
spilled. 

Now did one after the other come to His Majesty to 
urge upon him the folly of resisting and the hopelessness 
of further disobeying the mandate of the Sultan. The 
Seraskier comes and informs His Majesty that if he 
will not leave with conduct and complaisance he must 
turn him out forcibly and place him upon French vessels 
now riding at anchor in Salonica Bay. 

The foreign ambassadors did also arrive and humbly 
implore his gracious Majesty but this once in his life 
to listen to their prayers, prompted by naught but their 
great affection for him and interest for his cause and 
that of humanity. The Baron de Fabrice did even so 

310 


THE GATHERING STORM 

far forget himself in the course of his pleading that he 
finally replied' unto His Majesty: “Well, Sire, if Your 
Majesty will not follow what is dictated by religion, 
reason and your own glory, I have nothing more to do 
here and I withdraw my person.” His Majesty, how¬ 
ever, instead of giving the well-merited rebuke, replied, 
with much sweetness, that it was neither the time nor 
place to part in anger. “ I know well what I am doing,” 
concluded His Majesty. “ It is best we defend ourselves 
like brave men; believe me, it matters but little that 
they shoot, that is but fiddle-faddle, 1 they only wish to 
frighten us into their power. First will our salvos be 
heard, and then shall we come fairly to hands with 
them; spite of all, they shall not defeat us.” 

Thus did his high courage never leave him, nor what 
he believed worthy a king. In adversity as in prosperity 
was he equally master of whate’er befell him. 

The Kalabalik, or lion-hunt, as it was ever after called 
amid the Turks, was now going forward. Presently did 
His Majesty take all manner of precautions to prepare 
our little camp as best he might for the coming assault, 
meanwhile riding out daily with but small retinue amid 
the Tartars, who dared not touch him, as well as among 
the janissaries, who would not. The Polish magnates, 
seeing the gathering storm, stole away, leaving but six 
hundred or thereabouts of their men. The ground was 
hard frozen, it being in the month of February, so we 
could neither dig trenches nor build regular breast¬ 
works, or barricades, but were commanded to make 
these of wagons, carts, tables, and beams, mixed, where- 

1 Lappri. 

311 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


ever possible, with the dung collected from our animals 
during several years. 

The Turkish generals, seeing there would be fighting 
in earnest and that His Majesty refused point-blank 
to submit with fair means, did now give orders to with¬ 
draw our honorary corps of janissaries as well as to stop 
all food hitherto brought to our camp by the merchants 
and Jews. The Sultan had however commanded that 
no affront be offered His Majesty’s person — they 
should have respect to its sanctity and, when taken, 
conduct it with all honor and care to Adrianople. 

All those who have any knowledge of the greatness 
of a pasha of the horse-tails and the governor of several 
provinces, may readily divine how great was the rage 
of the Seraskier when he saw the boldness of King 
Charles, who, taking no notice of his commands, defied 
him within his own province. His imagination was 
already set on fire at the thought of the extraordinary 
battle which was about to be fought. 

Many of our officers were now ordered to leave the 
quarters they had occupied for several years and move 
close up to the walls of the stone house where were His 
Majesty’s quarters. Among them was His Majesty’s 
surgeon-in-ordinary, Doctor Samuel von Schraggen- 
stiena, highly displeased that, nolens volens , he must 
abandon his comfortable rooms shaded by spreading 
green trees. So hastily was he forced to move that 
he must leave behind him many precious objects and 
medicaments, among which were two great copper 
vessels, each of twenty measures, filled with pleasant- 
tasting water. On his way to the royal quarters there 
312 


DISASTROUS CURIOSITY 

met him a Tartar morsa, or colonel, with whom he had 
long been acquainted, and whose son he had cured of a 
perilous ailment. He now gave a warning to this colonel, 
telling of the two copper casks which he must leave be¬ 
hind because of their great weight, and that his people 
should not drink of their contents or they might die 
of too great purging. This Tartar morsa , who knew the 
royal surgeon to be a skilful and honorable man, who 
would use no deception, did therefore repeat all he said 
to his people. Despite all these warnings, however, as 
soon as upon their entrance into the surgeon’s quarters 
they beheld the two casks as well as the many valuables 
left perforce behind, they must smell and taste the water; 
this proved so delightful to their senses that they pro¬ 
ceed to take deep draughts of it, as well as also of other 
pleasant tasting medicaments left in smaller and larger 
vessels upon the various shelves. As could be foreseen, 
it was not long ere they were stretched upon their bellies, 
tearing at the frozen earth with their fingers until the 
very nails fell off them. They must scratch their itching 
bodies until they were gory, which helped but little, 
for over a score died amid horrible cramps, their bowels 
having burst within them. 

The Seraskier and the Khan, being now resolved to 
fall on without more delay, gave orders to all the Mus¬ 
sulmans under their command to commence the at¬ 
tack. We were however perfectly surprised when some 
of the leading janissaries arrived and urged His Maj¬ 
esty, who was playing battledore and shuttlecock with 
Grothusen, to give himself unto their keeping who so 
greatly adored him. The King deigning no reply, there 
313 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

commenced a brisk cannonade from all sides around us, 
whereby fifteen shots went through the King’s house. 
To encourage his hordes, the Seraskier set his many 
pipers a-playing. As soon as His Majesty heard this 
loud sound of martial music, which was intended to 
terrify him, he ordered six trumpeters upon the balcony 
of his headquarters to blow as bravely as they knew 
how. One, being killed by an arrow through his nose, 
fell over the railing into the street, but the five remained 
a-blowing. Some of our most valiant officers, seeing 
that this could only end in butchery, now came to King 
Charles declaring that they had ever been willing, as 
long as they could move a finger, to risk their lives for 
him, but this was but outright murder. 

Answered His Majesty: “There is no other way but 
to fight.” 

The janissaries now advancing all on fire to fall on, 
Grothusen goes out to them with a few of our men and 
begins a parley. “ Consider well what you are doing, — 
would you kill this King who loves you so greatly and 
whom you have promised to serve anywhere His Maj¬ 
esty thinks necessary? The orders of the Sultan are 
not as severe as you believe.” 

These words produced such an impression upon 
the janissaries that they cried out with one voice, 
“Korkma” [Fear not], “we are of your friends.” In the 
same moment they wheel their regiments about and rid¬ 
ing towards the tents of the Seraskier and the Khan de¬ 
mand to be shown the order of the Sultan. These great 
Turkish commanders, who were about to give orders 
for their entire army to charge, hearing the janis- 
314 


THE LAST OFFER OF PEACE 

saries say they would even turn their arms upon their 
own comrades, now reverse the command, admitting it 
were better to take further counsel on the morrow. 

The day had hardly broke when some two score of 
the janissaries were seized, strangled, and thrown into 
the river. Fearful of the same fate as their comrades, 
the remainder offer observance to the Seraskier, who 
promises each one of them eight ducats, were the King 
of Sweden but taken alive. The council then decides to 
send to His Majesty the most worthy of the janissaries, 
once more begging him to trust himself in their hands. 
The Seraskier furthermore reads aloud to them all the 
holy order of his Lord and Master, which he held aloft 
while they bowed their heads in reverence. He ex¬ 
plained unto them how they had rendered themselves 
guilty of high treason and might be separated from 
their wives and counted amid the accursed number of the 
infidels. So the old officers of the janissaries, those that 
had white beards down to their waists, rid for the last 
time forward to our camp, holding in their hands white 
canes, as a sign of peace. Their spokesman declared that 
they offered their services to His Majesty, assuring him 
they would serve him as escort and guard him as the 
apple of their eye, if he would but fare with them to 
Adrianople to the Sultan, or himself lead them to his 
own distant lands amid the snows and ice of the north. 
Would he but go with them, they would sooner be cut 
into many small pieces than allow any harm to come 
to a single hair upon his royal head. 

All to no avail! In great passion they returned to their 
comrades and the attack soon began. It was a lovely 
315 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


Sunday morning on which the lion-hunt took place, and 
Provost Brenner, who was the chaplain of the day, 
was strangely enough preaching from the text describing 
how the Lord Jesus slept peacefully in his boat while 
the storm was raging round him. 

The congregation dispersed, each man taking his posi¬ 
tion, as we saw the enemy in full march to attack us. 
Our outer barricades were shortly taken, both by ruse and 
by the enemy rushing in vast numbers over our poor 
defences, His Majesty and some fifty others alone es¬ 
caping into the King’s own stone house. This did they 
find swarming like a bee-hive with plundering Turks 
and Tartars. We hunted them right joyfully as terriers 
would rats in a closed cellar. From one hall to the other 
the battle raged, until the house was so filled with smoke 
we might only see each other’s legs, and the floor was 
so slippery with blood, neither friend nor foe could keep 
his footing thereon. 

Twice had His Majesty’s life been saved as by a 
miracle, the brave Axel Hard warding off the blows 
against which the King could not defend himself. At 
last the house was empty, over three hundred Mussul¬ 
mans’ corpses having been thrown out of the doors and 
windows. We had washed our faces and bloody hands 
in Spanish wine from the casks that were brought up 
from below to refresh our parched throats. Through 
the shutters of the windows we could see the Turks with¬ 
out, taking counsel how next to proceed. We had not 
long to wait for the result of their deliberations, for 
presently the janissaries began shooting arrows with 
fire and sulphur stuck in hemp upon their points. 

316 


THE LION AT BAY 


They lighted in such numbers upon the roof of our quar¬ 
ters that the score of us that were left in fighting trim, 
in order not to become roasted were fain to descend to 
the lower story. 

Axel Roos now goes up to His Majesty and counsels 
him to force his way to the chancellery near by, where the 
game might, with less heat above us, be started anew. 

This was in very deed our last hope. The door was 
opened and His Majesty, at the head of the little band 
still left him, rushes out, his sword in his right hand and 
his pistol in his left. As ill luck would have it, just as 
he reached the ground where stood a thick barrier of 
Turks, he trips in one of his great spurs and falls, the 
Turks then throwing themselves upon him, even as a 
pack of baying hounds upon the dying boar. His 
weapons were forthwith wrenched from his hands, his 
followers all hewn down or made prisoners, and many 
of the Turks fell to tearing and biting off pieces of His 
Majesty’s coat and trousers in order that they might 
therewith prove that they had a hand in the capture 
alive and claim a great reward. 

Thus ended the Kalabalik. The Turks screamed with 
delight at their many prisoners and the great booty 
they had secured, while His Majesty was led into the 
tent of the Seraskier. Unto the janissaries posted by 
the flap he graciously cast a handful of gold ducats he 
still had by him. His Majesty was the dreadfullest 
sight I ever saw. Such clothes as still were hanging in 
rags upon his noble body were so drenched by blood that 
they were more red than yellow and blue. From his 
left hand, which was badly wounded, blood dripped to 
317 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


the ground. The eyebrows were all singed off by the 
fire of the pistols discharged close to his face. This was 
so blackened, and sweaty to boot, that not even his Prin¬ 
cess sister would have known him, had she had the mis¬ 
fortune to be there. Both the tip of his nose and one 
ear which had been struck by a sword were bloody and 
swollen. 

But with a firm tread, and his carriage as straight as 
the trunks of his northern pines, he entered the tent of 
the Seraskier. 

Proud and triumphant he gazed upon his captor, who 
offered him the seat of honor upon the divan; but His 
Majesty was too full of concern to seat himself. 

“ I am enraptured,” said the Seraskier, “that Your Ma¬ 
jesty has escaped with your life from so great a broil.” 

Replies the King: “ The danger has been a bagatelle, 
and had my people by the barricades done as well as 
those within my house, the game would not yet be 
ended.” 

“It was a rough game,” replied the Seraskier. 

“For sport it was too much, for a fight too little,” 
said King Charles. 

With his royal hand he had that day sent fifteen 
Mussulmans to their eternal rest, but of that they made 
no mention. 

His Majesty, indeed, was in the greatest concern, 
knowing that his chief officers and other soldiers, unless 
speedily ransomed, would be sold into slavery by those 
who had taken them prisoners, so he sent a charge to 
the foreign ambassadors, Mr. de Fabrice and Mr. Jef¬ 
freys, as well as to Mr. de la Mottraye, to do all that lay 
318 


THE PLIGHT OF THE PRISONERS 

in their power to purchase back as many as possible 
of the poor survivors. They were a pitiful sight: the 
Tartars on horseback did lead them tied and coupled as 
dogs, behind them, yea, even with halters around the 
necks of several counts and high officers, as if they had 
caught horses. They closely searched the prisoners and 
took from them whatever they had left of gold or silver, 
watches, earrings or finger-rings. In place of their own 
clothes, they, being forced to undress, were given filthy 
Turkish rags as sole protection in this cold month of 
February. The silver buttons were cut off the coats, that 
their captors might wear these in strings around their 
necks. In pieces of bread and in the hearts of figs and 
other fruit did some of these miserable wretches conceal 
a few ducats. 

The Tartars rigged themselves out in such fashion as 
to look like monkeys, which they in truth do greatly 
resemble. Outside their dirty sheepskin coats, they 
put on thegallooned jackets of the officers and the three- 
cornered officers’ hats under their own caps, often in two 
or three tiers, while from their belts did they suspend 
the wigs, using them in place of their thumb and fore¬ 
finger, as they had observed us use nosekerchiefs. 

Mr. de Fabrice did now succeed in ransoming the 
greater portion of all our officers and men, but the 
Seraskier firmly refused to accede to the honorable 
demand that His Majesty’s sword be returned, alleging 
that he dared not, lest His Majesty should commence 
fighting alone, and, madman that he was, attack all the 
soldiers and guards about him. 

The King being informed that all his men might not 
319 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

follow him into captivity, orders the valiant and jolly 
General Sparre to remain in Bender and procure the 
enlargement of all that had been left behind or lost. 
His Majesty himself was placed in a chariot, his sword 
at last by his side, with sixty of his own men and two 
hundred Turkish horse, all led by a pasha of two tails; 
and thus did they journey, first to Demotica, and then 
on to Timurtasch, which means the iron rock, and is a 
magnificent castle near to Adrianople, set amid flower- 
gardens and fountains and surrounded by a large park 
abounding in game. 

I have ever thought that when evil has been done in 
this sinful world, there is oftenest no one that will bear 
the blame or the shame. From hence did His Majesty 
forthwith despatch unto the Sultan accusations against 
the Grand Vizier Suleiman, the Khan of the Crimea, 
and the Seraskier of Bender, and did also cause to be re¬ 
mitted to the Sultan the incriminating letters they had 
written to the Poles and Russians wherein they offered 
to sell him. But now in his great mercy and justice did 
the Sultan decide in some measure to punish the cul¬ 
prits and give His Majesty some satisfaction for the 
great wrongs he had suffered. The Grand Vizier was 
sent to Bender, that he might there hold examination 
concerning the whole grievous affair. This led to many 
executions, namely, sixty-three officers were at once be¬ 
headed and some of their bodies set on spikes around 
the city walls; others, near the camp of General Sparre 
and his ransomed Swedes, that they also might derive 
satisfaction from the vengeance taken. Thereafter the 
soldiers still stationed there did cast lots, and every 
320 


EXECUTION OF THE AGA 

third one who draws an unlucky number is hacked to 
pieces. For the Grand Vizier had set his heart upon do¬ 
ing matters thoroughly. The Seraskier was, during the 
night, sent to the Sultan with a silken cord around his 
neck, a terrible sight for this mighty officer to look upon 
by day and by night on his journey, for he durst not 
remove it. 

Thereupon the Grand Vizier caused the sentence of 
the Aga to be read aloud in the market-place of Bender, 
and thus was it framed: 

By the grace of God and the wondrous works of His Pro¬ 
phet. I, President in the Council and General of the most 
mighty Emperor of the Turks, make known unto thee, Keesler 
Aga, the will of the Sultan. Thou shalt die because of thy 
treacherous behavior towards the Swedish nation, and thou 
shalt pay therefor with thy blood and head. Thus speaks the 
Council, thus ordains the Sultan, thus commands the justice 
of the Divan and the law of Mussulmans. 

To execute this judgment, do I empower Nivangie Solei- 
man Bassa. 

This verdict was no sooner read than the Aga was 
fetched out and strangled, and his head was then car¬ 
ried around through the Grand Vizier’s army and there¬ 
after taken to Adrianople, that also the army there 
stationed may see it. Behind the pole on which the 
Aga’s head was carried, did there go two criers with 
lusty lungs and voices who in turn did cry, “Thus does 
it fare with the man who lifts his hands against an 
innocent crowned head.” 

From General Sparre His Majesty received further 
particulars as to the just retribution that now was 
meted out. 


321 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

Bender on the 15th of May , 1713. 
Most gracious Majesty and mighty King: — 

In our sorrow and loneliness God has given us long life 
enough to see a joyous spectacle, — Ismael Pasha as also 
one of his chamberlains locked up in the tower of the 
castle. 

This happened the last of April, and it did strengthen all 
our hearts to see the fate meted out to him which he had 
designed for us just three months ago. Just see! Thus has 
the righteous and gracious God paid him for his ungodly, 
false and wanton act towards Your Majesty and your subjects. 
Fourteen days earlier he had caused sixty tents to be 
erected upon the other side of the river, and did encamp there 
in the greatest magnificence and glory; he had ranged in good 
order all his equipage and over sixty camels, as well as oxen 
and wagons and some hundred horses wherewith to march 
towards Azof. Now upon this same happy day, in the sight 
of the King of Poland 1 and all the rest of us, did the janis¬ 
saries and other good fellows come and take it down, pack 
it together and send it back across the river, and later were all 
his furniture, clothing and money, and what else was to be 
found, made note of and sealed. Ismael has made so much 
ado with his chamberlain, crying and praying, that they have 
taken him out of the hole in the palace and put him in the 
seraglio in his own former chamber, until he, as is common par¬ 
lance in these days, is to be carried away over the sea unto 
Asia, to a certain place named Sinope, where he is to sit as 
long as he lives. But many believe he will never reach there, 
but that his head and his beard will bear each other company 
on the way to Adrianople, and this with good right. Actumut 
supra ! All this great and evil swarm of courtiers walk around 
the streets here. And by the same good chance some Swedes 
and Poles, which he had forced to become Turks, have es¬ 
caped unto us. Still do we miss some of our people, and those 
who have returned say they were sent with his womenfolk 
unto Stamboul, a fortnight ago. The page Hagdorn died three 
days before his confiscation took place; whether he was poi- 

1 Stanislaus had reached Bender, expecting there to find King 
Charles. 


322 


AN AFFRONT PUNISHED 

soned or what these rascals did with him, I know not. But 
the drummer and several others I sent away instanter as far 
as the border, to the Colonel Rosocatzski, so that they are 
out of the way. They are more than ten which were unran¬ 
somed, but have saved themselves, but the Feif’s old woman 
and a little two-year-old child, were sent away with the 
Pasha’s wives. I begged the mean old fellow one hundred 
times that he should let the page and the others go, but he 
would never listen thereto. Therefore has he also met ill luck, 
the hidebound rascal. 


And in order still further to raise His Majesty's 
spirits, Sparre sent him a miniature he had just painted 
of King Stanislaus. 

But more was to follow. Not only was the Seraskier 
disgraced and deposed, but so also was the great Tar¬ 
tar Khan, who was shipped ,to Rhodos, and likewise the 
Grand Vizier, Suleiman. Thus did these miscreants 
receive their due. In Suleiman’s place was put Ibrahim 
Pasha, who had been the leader of a band of robbers 
and cutthroats. 

, Against the Muscovites war was now declared for a 
third time, for Ibrahim was eager to fight. Desirous not 
only to see His Majesty but even to speak with him, 
he sends the King word that he may come to him in 
his great tent which he had pitched near that of His 
Majesty. To this affront His Majesty replied that not 
only was he too sick, but that neither he nor his officers 
had the equipage wherewith to dress since their shame¬ 
ful treatment at Bender. For how could a king 
lower himself so far as to call upon a grand vizier, who 
is but a subject? Such an answer being both merited and 
humiliating to the pride of the Mussulmans, there was 
323 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

naught to do but to strangle Ibrahim, which was done 
quickly and effectually. 

In place of the campaign against Muscovy peace is 
declared, and one Ali Pasha is raised to Ibrahim’s post. 

His Majesty did not counterfeit a malady when he 
kept abed for forty-three full weeks, but did in truth 
suffer from a tertian fever, which put us in terrible 
apprehensions and caused us to return with him to De- 
motica, if he might there during the winter recover his 
health from the salubrious breezes of the place. God 
wot, our hopes were mightily fulfilled, for here he grew 
healthy and vigorous. General Sparre did write to His 
Majesty from time to time, both so as to hearten him 
and to give him tidings of the Swedes in Bender. This 
general was a fine fellow. In 1697 he had been among 
those who shouted the lustiest to declare the boy Charles 
fit to rule the country; and at Kliszow, Fraustadt, and 
Poltava he had been in the van of the assault leading 
the storming infantry columns. When led away after 
the Kalabalik, stripped to his shirt with a halter round 
his neck, by a filthy Tartar horseman, yet could he with 
a pleasantry and a merry nod greet his comrades as he 
passed them in this sorry plight. When His Majesty did 
graciously elevate him to be a count of the realm, he 
placed Turbaned Turks in his coat of arms, with 
camels as his supporters, so that his posterity might 
ever remember his experiences amid the Mussulmans. 
A strange and droll fellow! Now he writes to His 
Majesty: — 

I have received your Royal Majesty’s gracious orders, and 
I have shown and shall continue with my humble and diligent 

324 


SPARRE’S LETTER 

devoirs by the King of Poland. This is for me a delightful com¬ 
mission and so much the easier to execute as, apart from the 
noble and beloved presence of my own gracious Lord, no gen¬ 
tleman can be found of a more generous free temper or whom 
it be more pleasant to wait upon than King Stanislaus Primus. 
Having recounted this, I would further say that the soldiers 
have no shirts, stockings, shoes, or boots, and many have al¬ 
ready become Turks; this is bad, and what is worse, there is 
little to drink but water. Unger has recently been dragged 
before the Pasha and, when he had received one hundred and 
fifty strokes on the soles of his feet, he was placed in irons 
attached to a block. We are living as half-dead, for we have 
heard nothing for a long season from Adrianople. God grant 
Your Majesty may be faring according to your wishes; should 
I fall upon my knees before these stingy swine, they would not 
lend me another groat. They merely say, “Pay us what you 
owe us!” Thereto they are very crazy in the head, and they 
make much noise, and pursue me night and day, shrieking 
and swearing. 

And though the General’s letters, as may easily be 
seen, did give many sad accounts, yet was there much 
which this humorous and brave fellow did write, which 
cheered His Majesty upon his sick bed. 

Now while His Majesty was daily gaining in strength, 
he busied himself with the drawing up of a new law for 
his government office and foreign service, as well as such 
important matters as the adornment of Stockholm and 
the support of men of science. Affairs of great conse¬ 
quence were going forward in Sweden, which were 
shortly to move him to important actions. The estates 
had been convened, His Majesty’s orders forbidding this 
having arrived too late; and her Royal Highness the 
Princess Ulrica Eleanora had graciously consented to 
take seat among the Councillors of the realm. The last 

325 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

flickering of hope, lit by the victory of Gadebusch, 
had gone out after Stenbock’s surrender at Tonningen, 
the sad news of the Kalabalik, the fire of Altona, the 
burning of Helsingfors, the defeat of General Lybecker’s 
expedition, the fall of the good city of Abo and Peter’s 
continuous victories along the eastern shores of the 
Baltic. Peace did indeed seem the only alternative. 

In their despair, the estates and the Councillors 
wisely determined to send an ambassador to His Maj¬ 
esty, to beseech him for the love of God and his poor 
stricken country, to return to it, in whatever manner 
he deemed best. And for this important errand there 
was selected the wise, experienced, brave, and honest 
man, Major-General Liewen. To bring good fortune, he 
was sent upon his journey on the birthday of our blessed 
Saviour Jesus Christ, in the year of our Lord 1713. 
Three months later he fell upon his knees before his 
Royal Master in Demotica. Faithfully did he recount to 
his King the sad state into which our beloved country had 
fallen through his absence, and that the very govern¬ 
ment was going to wreck did he remain longer away. 
Thereupon he handed His Majesty the letter from the 
Council, in which they full plainly stated that 
the country could be regarded as a body, whose sinews were 
all severed and from the veins of which all blood had been 
drained. What it now attempted for defence both by land and 
sea went on but tardily, for his subjects were filled with 
melancholy near to despair, which could not be conquered. 
It did now seem as if there be but a few months before those 
who still hold ground would totally go under. The poverty 
was so great that the very officials had neither pen nor paper 
and the wealthiest must lie abed sixteen hours of the day, 
being without candles to light the dark hours with. 

326 


THE KING DECIDES TO START 

Greatly did the reading of this affect His Majesty. 
There was no hope now that Peter might be conquered 
by the assistance of the Sultan. Also did His Majesty 
learn that the Muscovites were surrounding his good 
city of Stettin while the Saxons marched upon Stralsund. 
Prussia and Hanover had treacherously joined the many 
enemies, thinking now had come the time for them to 
seize upon the Swedish provinces in Germany. 

In his great wisdom King Charles now bestirs himself 
to put a period to this sad Turkish chapter and set out 
for home. To this end he sent unto the Sultan a me¬ 
morial, begging him graciously to issue a firman to the 
commanders of his wide empire, by virtue of which they 
should suffer His Majesty and his suite to pass, by what¬ 
soever road they choose, after they had paid one more 
visit to Bender. 

Grothusen, now as ever indispensable, having a per¬ 
fect understanding of the Ottoman humor, was sent to 
Constantinople, not only to treat with the Sultan and 
the Grand Vizier, but also to borrow the great sums of 
money sorely needed for the many creditors. Unto the 
Pasha who had served him during his illness did His 
Majesty, with much generosity, present Grothusen's 
coat of sables. It was a sad loss, but the poor fellow 
could have used it but a short time, as he was to meet 
his death on reaching Stralsund. Be this as it may, in 
Constantinople did he receive much honorable atten¬ 
tion; not alone were he and his embassy permitted to 
walk about the streets, but they were admitted into the 
holy and venerated Temple of St. Sofia. 

The Grand Vizier had the impudence to say unto him 
327 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

that he believed his tidings too good to be true, and that 
His Majesty would not be suffered to return by the 
city of Bender, lest he commit some new madness. 
Nevertheless the Grand Vizier put into the hands of 
Grothusen the firman giving free passage “unto the 
most worthy of glory of all the princes who confess 
Jesus, the chosen among the high potentates of the 
religion of Messiah, the judge of all dissensions which 
arise among Christians; the Lord of honor and glory, 
dressed in splendor and majesty.” Thereunto did the 
Sultan also state that Charles the Twelfth, King of the 
Swedes, the Goths and the Vends, as well as prince and 
lord of many other countries, would for ever after be 
his friend, and he desires the Lord God on high to make 
His Majesty happy and set him upon the road of sal¬ 
vation. 

While Poniatowski hastened back to our camp with 
these good tidings, the brisk Grothusen did not find 
the creditors so full of blessings. There were Turks and 
Jews and Greeks, Persians and Arabs, as well as also the 
English, French and Dutch merchants, and Mazeppa’s 
nephew, who had all made us constant loans during our 
five sad years, some at twenty, some at forty, and some 
usurers at eighty per centum interest. As Grothusen 
could not borrow enough to pay older debts and more 
clamorous and unreasonable creditors, he arranged that 
they and their families should attend our soldiers on the 
road across Europe even unto Sweden, where they may 
live in happiness and contentment until His Majesty 
or his government find the funds wherewith to pay them. 
And a great crowd of them did in this manner jour- 
328 


PREPARING FOR THE JOURNEY 

ney unto our country and live there for many years to 
come. 

King Stanislaus having started for Deux Ponts in the 
land of King Louis, His Majesty, King Charles, wrote 
letters of grateful acknowledgment to the Sultan Ach- 
med III and his high officers and exchanged costly 
presents with them all. He then divided all his people 
living in the Sultan’s empire into five companies, each 
under the command of a general, and he warned them 
all to speak no evil of the Turks, but sooner manifest 
satisfaction at the politeness which had been shown 
them. All these preparations did make Sparre mighty 
glad so that he writ His Majesty once more: “God be 
praised that it has been ordained that I should lead 
the people out of Egypt. Now they will come into 
Canaan’s land, and I wish them further and greater good 
fortune than they hitherto have known; may they pass 
securely through until we meet again, better satisfied 
than we have been in the land of the unbeliever.” 

^ On the 20th of September, 1714, His Majesty saddled 
his own horse, that he might set out on his journey from 
Demotica to Sweden. The Turks assemble in great 
multitudes, that they may for the last time gaze with 
burning devotion upon the stranger whom they had 
loved and whose lion’s courage had filled their warrior 
hearts with such rapture. Had he not observed the 
strictest laws of the Koran? Had he not, even as the 
Faithful, prayed during the morning and evening hours, 
shown charity and hospitality and abstained from all 
wine? Would he not rather fight than breathe? As 
His Majesty rode through the crowds, they knelt and 
.329 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


shouted their blessings, while from Timurtasch the 
Grand Vizier sent him as a parting gift a costly sabre 
and eight Arab horses. 

On the 25th of October the King, being arrived at 
the Turkish frontier, gives directions to all his people 
and tells his officers that he there takes leave of them 
all save only During and Rosen and myself, and with 
us alone will seek his kingdom once more a-horseback 
across Europe. I with two others of the horse were to 
travel as grooms. Unto me was awarded the honor of 
waiting upon His Majesty. 

The Secretary Feif was now directed to prepare in 
His Majesty’s name such passes as would be required 
by the three travelers, in order that they might tra¬ 
verse with as little discomfort as possible the many 
states that lie betwixt Turkey and the Swedish lands. 
To the King was given one describing him as the Cap¬ 
tain Carl Frisk; Rosen was named Captain Johan 
Palm, and During, Erik von Ungern. His Majesty, in 
order further to disguise himself, did cover his close- 
clipped head with a dark wig of elegant curls, and in 
place of the blue and yellow coat by which he was known 
and sung through Europe’s lands, he put on a smart 
coat in the style of King Louis’s court, and this was a 
sombre, dark-brown cloth, lined throughout with white. 

Off we rode flying, even as if we were couriers bring¬ 
ing tidings of a great and victorious battle. When we 
had however rode for some twenty hours, His Majesty 
scarce giving himself time to take nourishment, so great 
was his eagerness to cover the miles that separated him 
from his lands, we lost the way in a dark forest. A faint 
330 


ADVENTURES ON THE ROAD 

fire in the distance raised our hopes, and coming upon 
it we found a swineherd sleeping by the embers. The 
boor was surprised and frightened, to wit, when awak¬ 
ened by His Majesty; but when he had rubbed the sleep 
out of his eyes, he consented, on threats as well as per¬ 
suasion, to set us aright upon our road. On the morrow 
a worse adventure befell us, for Erik von Ungern, un¬ 
used to such a breakneck speed, as also to go well- 
nigh completely without rest or nourishment, became 
so sore between his legs and so exhausted, that, being 
too much of a soldier to complain, he did finally, with¬ 
out speaking a word, fall off his horse like a man hit by 
a bullet in the thick of battle. We did indeed for some 
time take him for dead, until he opens his eyes, and looks 
down between his legs to see whether the mare were 
yet there. 

His Majesty, unable to tarry, decided it were wisest 
to leave him behind with the postilion who had come 
along with the fresh horses from the last posthouse. Now 
this adventure did all turn out to Von Ungem's great 
advantage, for the rest of us once more lost our way 
while Von Ungem after gaining rest and strength in 
a post-chaise, did reach Vienna at the same time as we, 
when he could once more join us and bestride a horse. 

Moonlight illuminated the skies of the Emperor's 
provinces, the roads were good and the innkeepers 
of complaisant and obliging temper, so that it would 
indeed have been a fleet hunting dog that could have 
kept pace with our horses as they sped through Regens¬ 
burg, Niirnberg, Bamburg, Wiirtzburg, Manau, and on 
to Cassel. 


331 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

Many a place along the road did we arouse grave 
suspicion, and His Majesty well-nigh betrayed himself 
through some particularity or other by which he was 
known. The two other officers, of whom I have made 
mention, would at such time treat His Majesty with 
much familiarity or disrespect, in order that those who 
with curiosity were awaiting his coming, the news of 
which had spread like wildfire throughout the Holy 
Roman Empire, could by no means take him for the 
great King himself, but rather some advance courier. 

Coming however into the country of Hessen, the 
matter was not so easy. The Count of this fair province 
was betrothed to the Princess Ulrica Eleanora and had 
given the strictest orders unto his officers and servants 
to apprise him the moment His Majesty enters his 
capital of Cassel. Knowing also full well that the 
King must exchange horses at the Golden Eagle , the 
Count sends there the Brigadier Kagge, a Swedish 
gentleman now in Hessian service, who is to inform the 
Count the moment His Majesty sets foot on ground and 
hold him there until the Hessian Count comes to do 
him honor. 

It was but two days that the Brigadier had sat before 
the posthouse, watching travelers and chaises come and 
go, relieved by his servants at such times as he needs 
rest, when along the southern road come a-galloping our 
three horsemen, with us grooms scarce fifty paces be¬ 
hind, the horses covered with sweat and foam, the riders 
bespattered with dirt. As we alight, the old Brigadier felt 
his heart swell big within him, and beat against his ribs, 
for despite the disguise he believes he is looking upon his 
332 


A DIFFICULT INCOGNITO 

great King. Lest he lay bare his trepidation and great 
joy, he approaches us in an easy manner and inquires 
of us with nonchalant air whether we were not Swedes, 
what was our errand, and also whether our King would 
not soon pass that way. 

To all this His Majesty gave answers, inquiring art¬ 
fully in his turn of the Brigadier who he might be, 
from what country he came, and how long had been his 
service in Hessen. Being unable politely to dispense with 
Kagge’s company, we were forced to invite him to stay 
for supper with us, to which he gladly acceded. And 
I, in company with the other two grooms, having stabled 
the winded horses, were thrown bundles of hay in an 
adjacent chamber to that occupied by the officers, from 
where, stretching our weary limbs, we might overhear 
all that passed, as well as also be ready to lend assist¬ 
ance, should such be needed. As fortune would have it, 
I did also discover a crack in the joint of the oak panel¬ 
ing from where I might observe all that passed, yet 
without being seen by Kagge. 

Now did His Majesty, being unable to divest himself 
of his accustomed courtesy, inquire after the health of 
the Landgrave, and put other such questions as are 
usual with monarchs. Von Ungern and Palm, having 
left the chamber to order the supper, were much dis¬ 
turbed upon their return to find His Majesty sitting and 
conversing, with his hat upon his head, while the artful 
Kagge did stand respectfully with his under his arm, 
His Majesty quite unconscious of the difference, — an 
attitude no gentleman of equal station would ever have 
permitted. To make good the situation, Von Ungem 

333 ' 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

must slap His Majesty familiarly upon the shoulder, 
push his chair with scant ceremony out of the way to 
make room for his own, and in other manner treat Cap¬ 
tain Frisk as one hungry brother-in-arms well might 
behave to another, when out campaigning. 

'Mid familiarity, as well as much contradiction of 
what Captain Frisk did advance, the supper proceeded 
right merrily. Once more did Kagge, however, believe 
after all he must be right; for His Majesty drank naught 
but water, despite the fact that the Brigadier had ordered 
up a couple of bottles of the best the cellar afforded. 

“Apparently, Monsieur le capitaine,” he said, “y° u 
have renounced wine, like His Majesty, your august 
Master.” 

“Not at all,” Captain Frisk replied; “I always make 
my meal without drinking so that when I am full of 
victuals I may enjoy the wine all the more.” 

. Thereupon, the meal over, His Majesty fills up a big 
beaker, proposes toasts and sings Swedish songs merrily 
with the others. They did thus not only drink the health 
of the Landgrave of Hessen, but Kagge courteously pro¬ 
posed His Majesty of Sweden, and a safe return home 
to him. 

The officers' meal being over, we hastened, as agreed 
upon, to the stable, saddled the fresh horses and brought 
them before the door of the Golden Eagle , to where the 
Brigadier escorts His Majesty. But as we were getting 
into the courtyard, some greatness and majesty in the 
manner of King Charles roused a feeling of veneration, 
as also a great longing and love in the soul of the Swede 
who had so long been a stranger to his native land, and, 

334 


OUR KING IS HERE! 

pushing me aside, and as it seemed scarce knowing what 
he did, he holds in my place His Majesty’s stirrup and 
stands with bare head. Then did His Majesty turn 
unto him and say, “Farewell, my good Kagge, greet 
the Landgraf from Charles of Sweden.” “God bless the 
King,” was the choking response. As our horses clat¬ 
tered out of the courtyard, the Hessian uniform no 
longer belied the Swede, who knelt upon the cobble 
stones, the tears streaming down his old face. 

The great hero had passed into the night. 

On we went, up through Germany and Lotz, until 
on the fourteenth day after leaving Turkey, having 
rid 268 Swedish miles in that space of time, at one 
o’clock of the morning, we knocked on the Tribsee gate of 
our good city of Stralsund by the Baltic. “Who comes 
there?” said the guard within. “ Officers with despatches 
from the King, who must at once be admitted,” replied 
His Majesty. The guard, being loath to let us enter at 
this hour, did reason we must tarry until the customary 
hour of the morrow. But His Majesty being more 
than insistent, the officer on guard was called out, who 
did send a corporal unto the commanding General, 
Ducker, in order to still the disturbance. The comman¬ 
dant now being all agog, and also expecting shortly news 
of how His Majesty might purpose journeying from 
Turkey, gave orders that we be admitted and himself 
drew hastily on his boots and breeches. Scarce had he 
reached the door of his home ere King Charles alights 
from his horse. The general peers curiously into the 
face of the rider, then falls upon his knees, praising 
God on high he had lived to see this day. 

335 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


Ah, ’t was a joyous night! There was no more sleep 
in Stralsund, for like wildfire the great tidings spread 
from street to alley and from market-place to square. 
Rockets and fireworks burst under the moonlit sky; 
bonfires crackled in every open meeting-place, and kegs 
are joyfully rolled forth, that the happy burghers and the 
soldiers, frenzied with joy, may make merry together. 
“King Charles has returned! Our King is here! ” shouted 
the huzzaing multitude as they danced and leaped in the 
streets. Couriers sped out of the gates, as balls shot 
out from the mouths of cannons, to spread the glad 
news over every part of the Swedish kingdom. Above 
their heads did they swing their caps as, galloping and 
bawling, they fled out across the countryside. 

Lucky it was that the morrow was a Sunday, for the 
good citizens could do no work in their joy, but were 
much more fit to chant the Te Deum in the Church of 
St. Nicholas or to carouse or to flock through the streets, 
where princes and ambassadors now were arriving, one 
upon the heels of another, as well as high and noble 
guests from the nearby cities, bishoprics, and duchies. 
All wished to express their joy that His Majesty, after 
so many years and great dangers, was happily returned 
to his own lands. In such manner did King Charles 
come back to his people. 

Now lay before him a more desperate task than he ever 
yet had encountered. How had he best mend the broken 
vessel, how meet the many foes who surrounded on all 
sides what remained of his kingdom and its provinces? 
The day after his arrival, he writes unto King Louis the 
Fourteenth, who had but few months left to live: — 
336 


A DESPERATE PLIGHT 

Monsieur mon Frere:— 

Je n’ai pas hesit£ de me rendre dans mes £tats du moment 
que j’ai appris que Vostre Majesty avoit glorieusement ter- 
min6 ses longues guerres. Mon envoys extraordinaire aura 
l’honneur de rendre compte & Vostre Majesty de mon arriv£e 
en Pomm6ranie, et de la confiance avec laquelle je compte sur 
l’amittede Vostre Majest6. Elle m’en a dej& donne des mar¬ 
ques convaingantes; j’6spere qu’Elle voudra k l’heure qu’il 
est juger par ses propres int£rets des miens, et agreer que nos 
intentions soyent concert6es. J’ai s£rieusement celle de 
convaincre Vostre Majesty que je suis veritablement, 
Monsieur mon Fr&re, 

Vostre bonfr&re 

Carolus. 

Stralsundt le 13 Nov. 1714. 

This letter did indeed bear good fruit, for Louis, 
Sweden’s only remaining friend, promised to pay His 
Majesty a yearly subsidy of ninety thousand pounds. 
And sorely was it needed. For though the finances of 
our poor country had for many years been in a pitiful 
state and the royal treasury as empty as an idiot’s 
brain, that was as nothing compared to their present 
disastrous condition. To make matters worse, the 
King of England, as Elector of Hanover, did join his 
mighty fleet and forces unto those of the allies now hold¬ 
ing the Swedish Lion at bay. Sixty thousand soldiers 
were gathered to watch his death-agony, or, even better, 
to take him alive and fetter him. Betwixt themselves, 
they had already reached agreement how best to divide 
the Swedish provinces, or what remained of them, for 
half the kingdom was gone since the days of Altran- 
stadt, as well as more than 50,000 brave Swedish soldiers. 
Denmark would take Holstein, Stralsund, Rligen and 

337 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

Pomerania; Prussia, Wolgast and Stettin, on which His 
Majesty could not pay the debt of 400,000 6cus, while 
the traitorous Hanover cast sheep’s eyes upon Bremen 
and Werden. Thus was to end our dominion along the 
shores of the Baltic, Tsar Peter having in his grasp all 
the East Baltic lands. 

Though His Majesty had learned much during the 
years he had spent among the heathen, yet how to sue 
for peace he knew not, nor would he learn it this side 
of the grave. With scorn did he reject the Emperor’s 
proposals to send his ambassadors to a diet at Bruns¬ 
wick for the purpose of discussing a peace for all the 
kingdoms and principalities of Europe. The far-spent 
Louis did also send unto our camp at Stralsund Colbert, 
Count of Croissy, that perchance by his diplomatic art 
and address he might bring about an understanding 
betwixt His Gracious Majesty and Frederick of Prussia. 
Alas, Frederick craved too much and His Majesty 
would cede naught. After days and nights spent to¬ 
gether amid the bullets and cannon-balls of the trenches 
and bastions, the King would but reply to the untiring 
de Croissy, when he would venture to renew his dis¬ 
course on an amiable adjustment of our broils: “Col¬ 
bert, veni, male dicamus de rege” — His Majesty not 
lowering himself to use other tongue than the Latin 
when unable to make himself understood in his own 
beloved Swedish. Of his own poor weak confederates, 
none remained. The Duke of Holstein owned not a 
square mile of his dominions, Poland remembered His 
Majesty but as a torrent that for a short space of time 
had turned all things out of their course, while Stanislaus 
338 


GREATNESS IN ADVERSITY 

cowered under the shadow of France in the little prin¬ 
cipality of Deux Ponts. 

But King Charles was King Charles, and greatest of 
all in the hour of adversity, and never will the muse of 
history record a loftier and grander example of strength 
and resolution, of patience and endurance, than Sweden 
showed in these her darkest hours. Terrible calamities 
had she suffered, albeit true she would long ago have 
succumbed had such wars as she had waged under Gus- 
tavus Adolphus, Christina, Charles the Tenth, Charles 
the Eleventh, and his own glorious Majesty, been 
fought within the borders of our own kingdom. 

To his undaunted courage was added the knowledge 
that under his own leadership Swedish soldiers had never 
fled, nor had any other captain ever seen his men perform 
such deeds of valor for his sake. His Majesty did truly 
combine in his gallant person all those qualities which 
make a great general. Swift in conception and under¬ 
standing, ever seizing the golden moment, quick in 
all military manoeuvres, powerful in assault, no one 
could bear comparison with him. His strength lay in 
himself. He made misfortune so lofty by his scorn 
that at times it seemed to differ but little from success. 
He now writes unto his field-marshal, Count Niels 
Bjelke, that he must constantly have his God before 
his eyes and walk the road straight ahead, seeking the 
King’s and kingdom’s weal; in all things do right with¬ 
out regard for person. Then no one in the world could 
speak ill of him with success before His Majesty. But 
though His Majesty could inspire all by his courage, 
he could not thus create soldiers and money. 

339 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


Therefore, His Majesty now orders that copper be 
coined to take the place of the silver, which may then 
be withdrawn to supply the needs of his soldiers and 
supplies. It was still harder to procure soldiers, for 
such men of fighting age as might yet be found in 
Sweden were few and far between and thereto most 
unwilling to join the regiments. Thus did it become 
necessary to strain unto the utmost the laws compel¬ 
ling persons of station as also the guilds to furnish the 
requisite troops. Yea, it was even needful to publish 
new laws where the old proved too lenient, and to take 
the fearful fellows from church in the midst of service, or 
seize them in the public places, or drag them out of the 
mines, to put a soldier's coat upon their cowardly backs. 

And to think that these cravens were of the selfsame 
stock which the Turkish rulers would purchase as slaves 
at any price, that they by them with their own women 
might propagate a strong and brave race! 

The armies of the allies were now fast closing in on 
land, while the English and Danish fleets had constant 
encounters with our own ships on the waters behind 
us. His Majesty gave himself but little rest. Presently 
was he on Riigen; anon, on his fleet; and then back 
amidst the fortifications of Stralsund where ever-grow¬ 
ing numbers of bombs and cannon-balls were daily in¬ 
creasing the havoc. The brave little garrison made one 
furious, frenzied attack in the neck of another, King 
Charles ever in the van and the regiments of the enemy 
melting away wherever he appeared. But all this 
availed but little, for day by day the defences crumbled, 
and though His Majesty orders the outer houses de- 
340 


CHARLES LANDS IN SWEDEN 

molished in order that new masonry for the gaps might 
therewith be constructed, still the breaches grow wider 
and more difficult to defend ’gainst the great numbers 
of the enemy. 

Amid it all came the tidings of the marriage of her 
Royal Highness the Princess Ulrica Eleanora, to the 
Prince of Hessen Cassel, where the old Dowager Queen, 
now past four-score years, did the honors in the place 
of His Majesty. 

The outer trenches having at last been taken, as also 
one of the great gates of the city, the General Ducker 
as well as the other officers came unto His Majesty and 
begged him return into Sweden lest he be taken in the 
surrender of the city, which could but hold out a few 
days longer. It was little Christmas Eve when, with 
only Ducker, Rosen and a page, he went on board a 
boat so small it held but three pairs of oars. All night 
long they drifted about, picking their way ’mid the ice¬ 
floes, seeking a passage unseen by the hostile frigates. 
God in high heaven holding his protecting hand over the 
frail bark did cause them to be picked up first by the 
galley, The Whale, and thereupon by the Snap-up . 
It was Christmas Eve, early in the morning; day had 
not broken; the wind blew snow and sleet furiously in 
the faces of the four passengers who ’mid great danger 
slid down the rope to the little rowboat which first had 
been lowered into the milky sea. So as to keep it from 
capsizing, the Snap-up kept to windward. When near 
enough to shore, the oarsmen made for the lee of a 
great rock. 

Such was the homecoming of Charles the Twelfth. 
341 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

When after fifteen years of absence he once more sets 
foot upon the shores of his own country, not a Swede is 
there to meet him. No drum nor trumpet heralds his 
coming, merely the howling of the winter wind greets 
him as that afternoon, with his threadbare blue coat 
wrapped about his spare figure, accompanied by three 
drenched horsemen, he gallops into his town of Ysted. 

The Sweden he returns to is bare and desolate, groan¬ 
ing in her misery, praying for peace. With her last 
dying breath the old Queen Dowager sends word unto 
her grandson to bring them peace from Europe. The 
Councillors did also declare that things had never 
looked with so melancholy an aspect, never had they 
seen blacker days; the welcome that meets His Majesty 
is a prayer for peace. And yet, in all his misery, peace is 
farthest from the thoughts of King Charles. 

The one enemy whom he can easily reach being his 
detested cousin, Fredrik the Fourth, King of Denmark, 
no sooner has the money collected in exchange for the 
copper tokens provided sufficient men than His Majesty 
prepares to cross the ice upon the Sound. A thaw how¬ 
ever sets in, and the men who have been dragged from 
their homes and hiding-places to be made soldiers being 
scarcely sufficient for an assault, His Majesty must con¬ 
tain his impatience for a few months. Then however, the 
bonfires were lit from mountain-top to mountain-top, 
announcing to the peasants of Norway that the wounded 
Swedish Lion was crouching, once more ready to spring 
and rage in the bowels of their kingdom, to reach the 
vitals of their Danish sovereign. 

Well-nigh superhuman effort had been needed for the 


342 


LAST RESOURCES 


King to procure the necessary funds and supplies. It 
was the nation’s death-gasp. To assist him in this task, 
His Majesty did appoint the Holstein Baron Karl Goertz 
to be his Chancellor, setting him above all officials of the 
realm and laying the housekeeping and internal gov¬ 
ernment of the kingdom solely in his hands. This did 
greatly astonish the Senate and Councillors, who knew 
not the man and had no advices in the matter until he 
issued them their orders. While His Majesty had been 
sore pressed for money in Turkey, the baron had with 
great wit and artfulness stood by him, sending him many 
a bag of silver. 

Ah, there was indeed to be a sad ending to this reck¬ 
less stewardship— as cruel and lawless a one as ever 
disgraced the judgment-hall of Swedish nobles. Goertz 
however did nothing without the privity and approba¬ 
tion of His Majesty and had his royal word that he was 
ever to be accounted blameless. Shame upon Swedish 
nobles that they held not that word sacred! Never 
was man who had more audacity or promptness of ideas, 
nor was any readier in extricating himself from the most 
difficult postures. No plan was too vast for his daring 
humor, nor did he stick at any means to compass it. 
Prayers, promises, threats, the naked truth or veiled 
lie, he juggled with them all, even as does the conjurer 
with his balls upon the green at the country fair. With 
prodigious energy and great statecraft did he labor for 
His Majesty, overriding every difficulty, the empty 
treasury, jealous nobles, the infuriated clergy, and the 
cursing peasantry. Never was man more hated within 
the borders of the kingdom, for he bore upon his shoul- 
343 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

ders all the blame, not only for what he durst propose, 
but for the sanction given thereto by His Majesty, for 
whom all was undertaken. For his King could do no 
wrong. Like unto the great Richelieu, he silenced any 
questioning of the royal prerogative, but, alas, unlike 
this great Frenchman, he labored for a hopeless cause. 
Bom, as it were, for this last desperate hour, and igno¬ 
rant of the word impossible , he was never void of coun¬ 
sel. Is more money needed ?—he mortgages and sells the 
crown lands, lays violent hands upon the bank securi¬ 
ties, and, caring naught for what interest he might pay, 
he takes gold wherever it may be had. Loans are forced 
from mighty unwilling subjects and taxes are levied on 
salaries that for years had been unpaid. He took the 
last spoon out of the nobleman’s mouth and killed the 
last cow in the peasant’s stable. For King Charles must 
fall upon Norway and Goertz must raise the regiments, 
although the seed was now being sown by the women 
and children and the aged and infirm were harvesting 
the meagre crops. 

A small army is however, at last, recruited and 
mustered, with infinite diligence, and we cross moun¬ 
tains and valleys to sit down before the city of Chris¬ 
tiania. This whole affair ended miserably, for the Dan¬ 
ish fleet guarding the Straits of Elsinore hindered the 
arrival of His Majesty’s artillery which was to storm the 
citadel Akershus. The city itself is as empty as a beg¬ 
gar’s purse, the rich citizens and burghers having fled, 
taking all their valuables with them and leaving empty 
larders behind. Supplies running short, our dear King 
casts his eyes upon the fortress of Fredriksten and the 

344 


CHARLES VISITS HIS SISTER 


city of Fredriskhald lying at its foot, not far from the 
Swedish border. Thither we return, but this fortress 
proves impregnable and the Norwegians shoot the city 
afire, burning up homes with friends and foes alike, and 
two thousand brave Swedish soldiers, and what was 
worse, two great generals were thereby shot dead or 
burned amid the general conflagration. Ill fortune does 
never come singly, for the supplies which our soldiers 
were starving for and which were piled high on many a 
great transport were all captured or sunk by the Cap¬ 
tain Tordenskjold, a gallant Norwegian of remarkable 
conduct in the Danish service, thereby at one fell stroke 
destroying all wherefor Baron Goertz had so long 
sweated blood. Thus ended this campaign. 

His Gracious Majesty had found no time, during the 
year he had been at home, to see his sister, and it was 
now twelve years since they had met. He had been 
highly pleased by the ripe melons wherewith she had 
sent him her loving greetings, as also the purse she had 
knitted and the marmalade she had prepared with her 
own hands out of the sugared peels of oranges. His 
Majesty did now, out of a loving and brotherly heart, 
decide to call upon her Royal Highness, the Princess 
Ulrica Eleanora, in the cloister of the Holy Saint Bridget 
at Vadstena, where the Princess was resting while her 
recent bridegroom was fetching his stallions over from 
Hessen. A surly boatman is found to convoy him across 
the stormy sea to the cloister walls, whereafter many a 
complimentary and tender word is spoken by His Maj¬ 
esty, and greatly did the Princess appreciate the honor 
and her brother’s royal complaisance. 

345 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

This pleasant duty was soon over, and dismissed from 
His Majesty’s mind, which now turned to far weightier 
matters and problems of great import. While revolving 
these, he visits the pleasant city of Lund, renowned 
throughout our kingdom as well as among students the 
world over for its old cathedral and the university filled 
with learned doctors and zealous students. In the 
autumn of 1716 the King did here take residence, and 
remain until the spring blossoms of 1718. 

Many a memorial from his oriental sojourn sur¬ 
rounded His Majesty. Here, amid the 252 houses which 
the city contained, 131 of which were warm houses, 
we found installed many of the creditors who had fol¬ 
lowed along from Bender and Adrianople and crossed 
through Europe with our little army. Some of the Swe¬ 
dish officers had, it is true, desired to leave them there 
in Stralsund where the bombs rained thickest, but this 
His Majesty did with great anger and reproof condemn, 
sending them safe and sound, French, Poles, Greeks, 
Turks and Tartars, all across into Sweden. Wrestling 
with all the miseries of indigence and not speaking our 
Swedish tongue, they sought employment, and some 
became barbers and some interpreters, while others of 
the Turks prepared coffee, wherein they greatly excelled. 
Many a year did they here labor, waiting to be repaid 
the moneys with which they had parted at such usurious 
rates. 

His Majesty, being of a studious and scientific bent, 
did now take delight in attending the lectures of the pro¬ 
fessors, and did with praiseworthy attention listen unto 
their learned arguments and disputations, being in this a 
346 


AN INTERVAL OF STUDY 


model unto the studiously inclined throughout the land, 
or those who might have been so disposed had they not 
been dragged off to complete the regiments, reduced by 
the last Norwegian affair. Oft did His Majesty gladden 
the hearts of the librarians and those aged cripples who 
dusted the folios, by entering the library, when he 
would seat himself and read the Doctor August Pfeif¬ 
fer’s admirable ‘‘Antimelancholia et Antichiliasmus ” 
and “Der Jesuiten Christenthum.” Also mathematical 
treatises did he take down off the shelves and give them 
attentive perusal and study. He called to Lund the 
scientist and theologian, Emanuel Svedberg, in later 
days to become so celebrated all over the world under 
his ennobled name of Swedenborg. In the fields of 
mathematics, astronomy, physics and chemistry, did 
they roam together, holding much wise discourse, as 
also solving algebraic problems, in order therewith 
sweetly to shorten the evening hours. 

To the infinite honor and satisfaction of the learned 
fraternity, His Majesty did now appoint the Professor 
Rhyzelius, “Primus, Court and Drabant Preacher,” 
with a salary of six hundred silver dollars in silver coin, 
with one course for dinner and one for supper from out 
of the royal kitchen, and the feeding of his horse in the 
royal stable. Round about in the houses of the profes¬ 
sors and clergy, as also in some of the great halls, were 
the troops quartered, but His Majesty, being now 
greatly indisposed because of a cough, could not drill 
them as much as was his wont. Fortunately the loving 
forethought of his solicitous Princess sister provided 
him with a skull-cap as well as several wigs, by the wear- 

347 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


ing of which she assured him his bodily ills would shortly 
disappear. His Majesty, deeming the stomach the true 
seat of all distempers, wherever else they might mani¬ 
fest themselves, ate naught for a week but the smallest 
rations of bread, therewith drinking great quantities of 
water to clear his whole system of all its impurities. 
The Princess, taking His Majesty’s indisposition greatly 
to heart, writes him: “After having committed the 
brother of my heart to the loving care of the Almighty, 
I would express the pleasure it would afford me to hear 
that Your Majesty had commenced lying in a bed, and 
thereto do I wish Your Majesty a pleasing companion, 
to which my dear Lord and all of Sweden would say 
Amen!” His Majesty did full speedily recover, but as 
to bedded or wedded, he would none of it, despite 
prayers of either Princess or people. b 

But I must proceed with my memoirs, though ’tis 
well-nigh too sad a story and too much a matter of grief 
to me to renew the blackness of the last days of my 
hero’s life. 

Charles the Twelfth was now thirty-five years old. 
Despite the strenuous life he had led, and the many 
vicissitudes of fortune which had powdered his temples 
with gray, he was in the prime of his vigor and early 
manhood. His frame was of iron, his mind alert, and his 
temper brave and resolute to the last. These qualities, 
combined with long experience in every kind of military 
undertaking, had made him the greatest captain of his 
age. 

But little had our dear country profited thereby. 
Sweden and Finland were in a most lamentable condi- 
348 


NO PEACE FOR SWEDEN 

tion. Over their prostrate and bleeding bodies did King 
Charles form a new army of sixty thousand soldiers. He 
turned stones into bread. Goertz, ever successful in re¬ 
sources, squeezed the gold ducats out of the Amsterdam 
merchants, making every promise and contract under 
the sun except an honest one. The silver service of the 
state, yea, the very brass and bronze cannons brought 
home as trophies from earlier wars, were all coined into 
real or counterfeit money. 

Nay, more, Goertz, believing Sweden’s final salvation 
lay alone in a peace with at least Peter and Frederick of 
Prussia, did so insinuate himself into their good graces 
and gain confidence in their counsels that we were like 
to come to a peaceable accommodation. The baron and 
Peter put their heads together with mighty caution at 
the chateau of Loo while the good merchants were count¬ 
ing out their ducats in Amsterdam. Also in Berlin was 
the sly Brandenburger outwitted and persuaded to 
change his previous sour mien to smiles. Conferences 
were well under way. The price might be high, but bet¬ 
ter to pay it, believed the baron, and save his adopted 
country from complete ruin. But all his labor was in¬ 
deed of no avail. The contriver of this fine structure 
sees it fall to pieces as a house of cards. Says His Maj¬ 
esty: “Let us beat the Danes or we do nothing!” To 
this end must Norway be crushed, and I thought verily, 
with such an army so excellently equipped, her fate was 
sealed. 

What Swede will ever recall the fateful year 1718 but 
with a heavy heart! The die is cast and our new army 
is soon in full march. Methought the first advance 
349 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 

showed but little alacrity, and I make no doubt but the 
miserable condition of our country had its effect on the 
men, for those we were leaving behind lived on bread 
made more of bark than corn. But the King’s dexterity 
of management and desperate valor soon put new life 
into the troops. Mountain passes and border fortresses 
are taken by storm. Where our supply ships cannot pass 
through narrow waters, they are dragged over the land 
until we reach such seas as they may again be launched 
upon. 

His Majesty commands the southern army. It is near 
the end of October and we have left behind the entire 
desolation of our country, where the frost and wild au¬ 
tumn winds had stripped our lovely birches even to the 
last leaves. Before us rise the mountains of Norway and 
as I look in His Majesty’s gallant face, whose sudden 
changes I had learned to apprehend, methinks I read: 
“I will look unto the hills from whence cometh my 
help.” 

We sit down before the city of Fredrikshald, which 
soon surrenders. His Majesty then orders trenches to 
be dug that were finally to creep up the hill till we should 
come near enough to storm the fine fortress of Fredrik- 
sten. I know not well how the next melancholy days 
passed, but I do remember that the thirtieth of Novem¬ 
ber being the first Sunday in Advent, King Charles gives 
orders that all work upon the ditches should cease till 
the day’s services are over. And His Majesty mounted 
his English thoroughbred and rode unto his headquar¬ 
ters in the nearby valley, that he might there be given 
spiritual strength by taking part in the morning and 
350 


BEFORE FREDRIKSHALD 


afternoon services. His chaplain did read from the Holy 
Bible the chapter which relates how our blessed Lord 
came riding into the city of Jerusalem, and he expounded 
thereupon with much warmth and discernment. The 
afternoon services being ended, His Majesty held a 
council with all his generals, and unto each did he give 
his minutest directions so that none might fail in his 
duty, but the common plan be well and sagaciously 
advanced. 

The early winter day was over and the dusk of eve¬ 
ning fast falling upon the pine-clad Norwegian mountain 
slopes as King Charles, wrapped in his blue cape and 
followed by but a few officers, rode back into camp. 
There was much shooting and disturbance from the fort¬ 
ress walls above, as if the enemy might mayhap be think¬ 
ing of some sortie. His Majesty alights from his horse, 
and passing the little hut which had been built for him 
in the very trenches, wherein he dwelt amid his bur¬ 
rowing soldiers, he went forward and up to the foremost 
trench, where he might best measure the remaining dis¬ 
tance and more intently watch the workmen who had 
now resumed their task. 

The moon rose even as the old town clock struck 
nine, and lit up the busy scene. From above fell con¬ 
stant cannon- and musket-balls, whilst fire-balls and 
rockets darted across the evening sky. Every once in 
a while one of the three hundred busy workers was hit, 
but as quickly carried away and his spade, hoe, fascine, 
or gabion picked up by another who had moved for¬ 
ward to take his place. 

The French engineer, Maigret, did greatly encourage 
351 


CHARLES THE TWELFTH 


the men, while His Majesty, coming out of the trench, 
rested his head upon his arms on the embankment 
above it. 

Now this did greatly distress the officers standing 
directly below His Majesty in the ditch, and they ear¬ 
nestly, though respectfully, entreated him to have a 
greater care for his life and to leave the posture where 
he was a target for the enemy. Answers the King as 
had ever been his wont: “Have no care.” 

A moment after, these officers heard a dull hollow 
sound as when a stone is cast into a swamp. Being much 
wrought up with anxiety and excitement, each of them 
did feel as if he had received a sword-thrust in the 
heart, when suddenly a hoarse whisper from the Ad¬ 
jutant-General Kaulbars breaks the awful stillness: 
“Lord Jesus! the King is shot!” 

Tenderly did they bear the dear body down and see 
in the ghastly moonlight how a falconet ball had crushed 
the beloved face, going through the right temple and 
out through the left. 

The soul of the war was dead and Sweden's glory had 
passed with him! 

They bore him home on their shoulders, his boys in 
blue, with his face towards the Polar Star, and the beat 
of the muffled drums rolling from mountain to moun¬ 
tain. Gone was now the Kingdom, the Power, and the 
Glory, for unto dust would shortly be rendered dust. 
Slowly they wound their way down through the val¬ 
leys and across the noiseless bosom of the waters, where 
the evil tidings had spread far before them, — back to 
the city by the sea. In his hands lay his naked sword, 
352 





THE BODY OF CHARLES XII BEING CARRIED ACROSS THE NORWEGIAN MOUNTAINS 

From the Painting by Gusto/ Cederstrorn in the. National Gallery , Stockholm 










































(£g ■ 4 





































SWEDEN’S GLORY HAS PASSED 

and over his temples the victor’s wreath, while the triple 
crowns of the Swedes, the Goths, and the Vends were 
strewn across the warrior breast. They laid him ’mid his 
sires on the Island of the Knights, where echoes whis¬ 
per glories of the Vasa race. 

The last great son was gone. 

( Here ends Colonel Klingspor’s Diary) 


Through wisps of naked brush moans the winter gale, 
gaining in voice as it shrieks unchecked across dreary 
wastes and stiffened bog-land, up to the endless slopes 
of pine and fir. It sighs and groans again as it lifts 
their great branches, tossing icicles and snow toward the 
leaden heavens. Beyond stretch the great lakes, bearing 
from shore the late autumn leaves, while far out ride 
the dark waves crested with foam. 

Over the Swedeland crouch hovel and hut, gaping 
in misery and squalor, filled with winter, on their 
knees in the drifts. Cold are the chimneys, gone are 
the windows and doors. They seem to stand patient, 
waiting for the merciful clutch of the wind. It will 
leave no sign of the life that once was theirs. 

Dead lies the Lion of the North . 





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Hjarne: Karl XII. 

Hoijer: Om Karl XIVs myndighetsforklaring. 

Hultman, J.: Dagbok. 

Jensen, A.: Mazepa. 

Kagg, L.: Dagbok. 

Kraak, Ifvar : Correspondance historique et critique. 
Kuylenstierna, O.: Karl XIVs Dod. 

Kuylenstierna, O.: Karl XII. 

Lambers, J.: CharlesXII. 

Lewenhaupt, A. L.: Anteckningar. 

Limiers: Histoire de la Subde sous le regne de Charles XII. 
Long, I. le: La vie de Charles XII. 

Lucas, SieurP. : Voyage dans la Turquie 1 Asie 1 Syrie, Pales¬ 
tine, etc. 

Maximilian, Emmanuel de Wurtemberg: Memoires. 
Meijer, B.: Svensk Historisk Handbok. 

Mottraye, de la: Charles XII. 

Murray, Sir G.: Letters and Dispatches of the Duke of 
Marlborough. 

Nordberg, J. A. : Historie de Charles XII. 

358 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Overland, O. A. : Borgerne paa Fredrikshald. 

Petre: Dagbok. 

Quennerstad : Karolinska Krigares Dagboker. 

R., le Chevalier de: Histoire abregee de Charles XII. 
Robinson: L’etat present de la Suede. 

Rosen, G. F. von: Anteckningar rorende KarlXIVs hem- 
resafrdn Turkiet. 

Sander, Fredrik: Om Carl XIFs Krigare under fangens- 
kapen i Ryssland. 

Sarauw : Die Feltziige Karl XII. 

Schenstrom: K. F. : Armfeltska Karolinernas sista tag. 
Schmaus, J. J.: La vie et les actions heroiques de Charles 
XII. 

Schulenberg: Anecdotes. 

Sittman, von: Dagbok. 

Sjogren, O.: Johan Reinhold Patkul. 

Sjogren, O.: Karl den Elfte. 

Stelle, A. : Karl XII fdlttagsplaner 1707-09. 

Theyls, W. : Memoires pour servir a Vhistoire de Charles 

XII. 

Tott, Baron de: Memoires sur les Turcs et les Tartares. 
Tuxen, A. P., and With, C. L .: De Nordisk Allieredes 
Kamp med Magnus Stenbock. 

Visocki-Hochmuth: Dagbok. 

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Wahrenberg: Om Sveriges yttre politiska forhallanden. 
Waliszewski : Peter den Store. 

Zsachwit z: Nachrichten von dem Nordischen Krieg. 




INDEX 



INDEX 


Abyssinia, 7. 

Achilles, 269. 

Achmed III, 161, 266, 301-04, 306, 
309. 312, 320, 328, 329. 

Adlerfelt, Gustavus, 1, 210. 

Adrianople, 288. 

Alexander the Great, 97, 200, 215, 
221, 275. 

Ali Pasha, Grand Vizier, 324, 327, 
328, 330. 

Allard, Major-General, 90. 

Altona, 57, 58, 79, 308. 

Altranstadt, 188, 194, 198, 204, 207, 
210, 211, 214. 

America, colony in, 155. 

Amira, 3. 

Anjou, Philip of, 8. 

Anna, daughter of Peter the Great, 
74 «• 

Anne, Queen, 136, 274. 

Appelman, Major, 87. 

Augustus the Strong, 40, 82, 97, 101, 
113, 134, 193, 213, 223, 306, 309; 
Elector of Saxony, King of Poland, 
7,120,133; plots with Peter against 
Charles, 70-73; at Berze, 107, 108; 
an amorous monarch, 121, 122, 
130; not self-denying, 127-29; de¬ 
feated at Kliszow, 137-41; depo¬ 
sition demanded by Charles, 144, 
145; forms new alliance with Peter, 
160; deposed, 164; captures War¬ 
saw, 169, 170; sends Polish crown 
regalia to Saxony, 173; again 
swears friendship with Peter, 178; 
sues for peace, 192, 196-200; de¬ 
livers Gen. Patkul to the Swedes, 
202; his love of magnificence, 204, 
205; visits Charles’s camp, 205- 
07; his personal appearance, 214; 
visited in Dresden by Charles, 218, 


219; again claims Polish throne, 
273 , 274. 

Austria, 115, 298. 

d’Avaux, Count, 11. 

Azof, 257, 276, 282. 

Baireuth, Countess of, 291. 

Baltic provinces, 115, 222-24, 274 
282. 

Baltic Sea, 50, 76, 83, 118, 162, 236, 
243; made almost a Swedish sea, 
5, 298; a constant thoroughfare, 
71; pest and starvation on, 284, 
285. 

Baner, 44. 

Baturin, 243. 

Bauer, General, 161. 

Bavaria, 211. 

Bender, Charles’s reception at, 266, 
270, 271; want and misery in, 283; 
difficulty of getting money, 286, 
287; council at, 292-94; royal 
headquarters at, 295, 296; Charles 
refuses to leave, 310-12. 

Bender, Seraskier of, 270, 271, 309, 
310, 312, 3I3-I5. 318-21. 

Berlin, 261. 

Berze, 108. 

Bessarabia, 263. 

Bethlehem, 18. 

Bevern, Duchess of, 56. 

Bielinski, 175. 

Biolowice, 120. 

Bjelke, Count Niels, 3, 27, 28, 30, 
339 - 

Bjorneborg, 104. 

Blekinge, 4. 

Blenheim, 208. 

Blonie, 165, 173, 178. 

Boileau, 275. 

Bonde, Gustaf, 44. 


363 



INDEX 


Boristhenes, 230, 233. 

Bossenwald, Baron, 211. 

Brahe, E., 30. 

Brandenburg, 5, 6, 42, 71, 107, 114, 

115. 

Brandenburg, Elector of, 114, 136. 

Brauske, 120. 

Bremen, 5, 69, 298. 

Brenner, Provost, 316. 

Britain, 81. 

Britas, St., 149. 

Brunswick, 69. 

Brussels, 66. 

Bug, the river, 190, 263, 265. 

Burgstrom, 171. 

Busanville, 185. 

Caesar, 23, 25, 81, 98. 

Camineck, Bishop of, 177. 

Carelia, 4, 82, 274. 

Cark, Adam, 57. 

Carlsberg, 13, 14, 25, 26, 31, 56, 226. 

Carlscrona, 74. 

Carpi, 161. 

Catherine Alexiewna, 249, 254, 260, 
282, 289, 290, 291, 292, 294. 

Catinat, 161. 

Champagne, 92. 

Charles II, 8. 

Charles IX, 4, 5. 

Charles X, 5, 6, 20, 23, 58, 74. 

Charles XI, 16, 37, 39, 65; a great 
king, 8-12; devoted to Queen Ul¬ 
rica, 13, 14; his vision, 27-30; his 
death, 31-33. 

Charles XII, 1, 3, 14, 57, 113, 130, 
190, 191, 215; early childhood, 18, 
21, 26; crowned king, 44-54; not 
inclined to marry, 55, 56; a fine 
horseman, 59, 60; fond of sports, 
61, 62, 73; and of boyish pranks, 
63, 64, 103; his Court, 65, 66; his 
concern for the army, 67, 68, 101, 
102; the boy becomes a man, 69, 
74; attacks Denmark, 75-82; cap¬ 
tures Narva, 83-96; a great gen¬ 
eral, 97, 98, 339; free from vices, 
99, 121; personal qualities and 


habits, 100,101,148; sends a Finn¬ 
ish soldier as courier to Paris, 104- 
106; at the battle of the Diina, 
108-12; espouses the cause of the 
Sapiehas, 120; refuses to receive 
Countess von Konigsmarck, 122- 
26, 212; negotiates over the throne 
of Poland, 132-36, 144; at the 
field of Kliszow, 137-43; takes 
Cracow, 145, 146; breaks his thigh¬ 
bone, 147; answers a request of the 
Pope, 149; joined by Prince Maxi¬ 
milian Emanuel, 151; besieges 
Thorn, 154-59; accidentally kills 
Axel Hard, 165, 166; captures 
Lemberg, 168; forces the crowning 
of Stanislaus, 173-78; decides to 
march into Saxony, 182; breaks 
through the ice on the Niemen, 184, 
185; reaches Leipzig, 191, 192, 194, 
195; dictates peace conditions, 196- 
98; controls his soldiers strictly, 
201; executes General Patkul, 202- 
04; receives Augustus at Altran- 
stadt, 205-07; visited by Duke of 
Marlborough, 208-10; a strenuous 
dancer, 211, 212; protector of the 
Evangelical faith, 216—18; leaves 
Saxony, 219; heedless of counsel, 
221, 222, 237, 310, 311; decides to 
march into the Muscovite Empire, 
223-25; enters into agreement 
with Mazeppa, 226, 240, 241; uses 
severe methods, 232; defeats Peter 
at Holowczyn, 233-36; marches 
into the Ukraine, 243-46; be¬ 
sieges Poltava, 246, 248; wounded, 
247, 249; defeated at Poltava, 
250-56; persuaded to seek safety, 
258; flees into Turkey, 263-65; 
message to Achmet III, 266-68; 
at Bender, 271, 272, 274, 275, 
296-99; forms new plans, 276; 
hated by the Grand Vizier, 278, 
279, 292-95; wins the Sultan’s 
favor, 281; finds it hard to get 
money, 286, 287; receives aid from 
the Sultan, 301; hears of new plots, 


364 




INDEX 


306, 309; rebukes Stenbock, 307; 
ordered to leave Bender, 310, 311; 
refuses, 312; is overpowered, 313- 
16; wounded and captured, 317; 
concerned for his followers, 318- 
20; suffers from tertian fever, 324, 
325; besought to return to Sweden, 
326; asks the Sultan for safe-con¬ 
duct, 327,328; sets out for Sweden, 
329; a perilous journey, 330, 331; 
in Hessen, 332-35; reaches Stral- 
sund, 335; tries to mend Sweden’s 
broken fortunes, 336-40; again in 
Sweden, 341; plans to invade Nor¬ 
way, 342; is unsuccessful, 344,345; 
at the University of Lund, 346, 
347; again attacks Norway, 349- 
515 killed, 352; letters from, 61, 
103, 131, 142, 167, 171, 179, 198, 
214, 262, 266, 269, 337. 

Charles Peter Ulric, 74 n. 

Charles, Prince of Denmark, 300. 

Chemnitus, 232. 

Chiari, 161. 

China, 7, 231. 

Christian V of Denmark, 58, 67. 

Christina, Queen, 4, 22, 66. 

Clara, Sta., 31. 

Clodt, 104. 

Colbert, Count, 338. 

Colyer, 278. 

Constantinople, 3, 161, 265, 273, 
276, 280, 282, 287, 288, 298. 

Conti, Prince of, 133, 164. 

Copenhagen, 43, 80, 81, 82, 221, 
223, 261, 284. 

Corneille, 275. 

Coumourgi, Ali-Pasha, 279. 

Courland, 113, 120. 

Courland, Duke of, in. 

Cracow, 137, 144, 145. 

Crassow, General, 225. 

Creutz, General, 3, 252, 253, 258, 
259 . 

Cronhjelm, Baron Gustaf, 25. 

Cronmark, 207. 

Croy, Prince of, 90. 

Cruus, General, 259. 


Dahlberg, Count Erik, 73, 74, 82, 
107, 108, 138. 

Danzig, 182. 

David, 68, 151, 159. 

Demotica, 326, 329. 

Denmark, 5, 38, 112; offers matri¬ 
monial alliance with Charles, 55; 
Sweden’s most dangerous enemy, 
57, 58, 67; war with Holstein, 
69; plots with Russia and Poland 
against Sweden, 70, 71; hated by 
Swedes, 75; invaded by Charles, 
76-82; defeated at Helsingborg, 
280, 281; again attacked by 
Charles, 342, 349-51. 

Desaleurs, 287. 

Dnieper, 228, 239,256,257, 262,263. 
Dniester, 118, 266. 

Donhof, Countess, 127, 129. 

Dorpat, 106. 

Dresden, 20, 127, 152, 197, 204, 218, 
223. 

Dresden Monk, the, 218, 219. 
Ducker, General, 335, 341. 

Ducroi, 63. 

Dima, the, 107, 166; battle of, 108, 
121, 126, 137, 259, 289. 
Dunamunde, 83, 107, 274. 
Dzielinski, 173. 

Egypt, 225, 229, 296. 

Ehrenhjelm, Gustaf, 48. 

Elbe, 218. 

Elbingen, 152. 

Eleanor Juliana, Princess, 151. 
Elephant Tower, 65. 

Elsinore, 79. 

Emeranca, 104. 

Emporagius, Bishop, 20. 

England, 6, 7, 38, 42, 115, 150, 208, 
298, 300; King joins allies against 
Charles, 337. 

Erskin, Alexander, 129. 

Esthonia, 4, 70, 72, 274. 

Eugene, Prince, 76,97,114,138,161. 

Fabrice, Baron, 275, 310, 319. 
Fatima, Turkish slave, 129, 130. 

365 



INDEX 


Feif, Karsten, 274, 330. 

Fequer, court chamberlain, 64. 
Ferdinand, Prince, 108. 

Finland, 4, 71, 72, 222, 225. 
Fleming, Count, 71, 73, 83, 127, 128, 
129, 137, 143, 219, 307. 

Florence, 282. 

France, 7, 8 , 42, 74, 101, 115, 133* 
169, 211, 221, 261, 274. 

Fraustadt, 178, 186, 225, 259. 
Fredrikof Denmark, 71,82,223, 342. 
Fredrik of Hessen, 300. 

Fredrik of Holstein, 56, 64, 65, 141. 
Fredrik of Prussia, 76, 107, 349. 
Fredrik William, the Great, 136. 
Fredrikshald, 345, 350. 

Fredriksten, 2, 344, 345, 350. 
Funck, Charles’s ambassador, 258, 
301-06, 309. 

Gadebusch, 89, 308. 

Galetski, Count, 70. 

Gardie, Jacob de la, 44. 

Geneva, University of, 152. 

George II, 300. 

Germany, 6, 7, 75, 114, 119, 182, 
204, 207, 218. 

Gluck, 289. 

Gnesen, Archbishop of, 133. 
Godolpin, 262. 

Goertz, Baron, 142, 210, 343, 344, 
349 - 

Goldingen, 120. 

Golofkin, Chancellor, 231. 

Gransten, Petter, 30. 

Gripenhjelm, Marshal, 47. 

Grobin, 120. 

Grodno, 178, 184, 202. 

Grothusen, Treasurer, 275, 286, 313, 
314, 327, 328. 

Guiscard, Count, 74, 77, 80. 
GuntersdorfT, 210 n. 

Guntherfeldt, Gustaf, 206. 

Gustavus I, 3. 

Gustavus Adolphus, 22, 74, 195, 
234,298; his original.kingdom, 4; 
his prayer-book, 148. 

Gutermut, 104. 


Gyllenkrook, General, 3, 249, 258, 
276. 

Gyllenstierna, General, 234 

Hadjatz, 243. 

Hagen, Colonel, 171. 

Hague, The, 261, 274. 

Halland, 4. 

Halmstadt, 86. 

Hamilton, General, 256. 

Hannibal, 76, 97. 

Hanover, 69, 114, 115, 298, 327. 
Hanover, Elector of, 210. 

Hansa, 4. 

Hapsburg, 6, 8, 114. 

Hard, Colonel, 218, 249. 

Hard, Axel, 89, 165, 166, 167, 316. 
Hard, Gustav, 33. 

Hard, Karl Gustaf, 275. 

Hedvig, Dowager Queen, 20. 

Hedvig Eleanora, 66. 

Hedvig, Sophia, Princess, 14, 56, 
130, 171, 268. 

Heilsberg, 163, 166. 

Heinsius, 114. 

Helsingborg, 79, 281. 

Helsingfors, 89. 

Hermelin, Secretary, 3,101,131,132, 
146, 209, 210, 256. 

Hessen, 300. 

Hezekiah, King, 203. 

Hjarne, H., 119 n. 

Hochstadt, 161. 

Hohenthiel, Count, 194. 

Holland, 42, 115. 

Holowczyn, 233, 259. 

Holstein, 38, 57, 58, 69, 71, 73, 75, 
81, 141, 275. 

Holstein, Charles Fredrik of, 74. 
Holstein, Duchess of, 55, 74. 
Holstein, Fredrik of, 56, 64, 65, 
141. 

Horatius, 23. 

Horn, Arvid, 63, 163, 164, 165, 169, 
170 , 175 . . 

Horn, Henning, 83, 95. 

Horn, Svante, 186, 187. 

Humlegard, 13. 


366 



INDEX 


Hummerhielm, 136. 

Hungaria, 6, 26. 

Ibrahim Pasha, 323, 324. 

Imhof, Baron, 192. 

India, 221. 

Ingria, 4, 71, 72, 161. 

Isaiah, 203. 

Israel, 91. 

Italy, 6, 76. 

Ivanogrod, bridge of, 160. 

Jakobovice, 149. 

Jarfva, 23. 

Jarislaw, 171. 

Jeffreys, Mr., 318. 

John, Church of St., 175. 

John William of Saxe-Gotha, 300. 
Jordan, 297. 

Joseph I, 170, 215, 217. 

Juel, Niels, 12, 55. 

Jussuf Pasha, 295, 301-06. 

Kagg, 62, 74. 

Kagge, Brigadier, 332, 333, 334, 335. 
Karlsbad, 171. 

Kattegat, 78. 

Kaulbars, General, 352. 

Kiev, 239, 260. 

Kiovia, 175. 

Klinckowstrom, the King’s favorite 
page, 3, 55, 59, 125, 165, 184, 249, 
265. 

Klingenstierna, page, 206, 212, 213. 
Klingspor, Colonel, 109, 180, 181, 
210. 

Kliszow, 137, 159, 207, 259. 

Kolken, 83. 

Konigsberg, 107, 152, 169. 
Konigsmarck, Aurora von, 122-26, 
127, 129, 130, 164, 212, 213. 
Konigsmarck, palace of, 44. 
Konigstein, 200. 

Kosjevoj, 229. 

Kremlin, 260. 

Ladoga, 230. 

Lagena, 85. 


Lagercrona, 158, 246. 

Lais, 101, 102. 

Landscrona, 79, 86. 

Lebanon, 297. 

Lecszinski, Stanislaus, 165,169, 197, 
202, 213, 215, 225, 226, 230, 282, 
3 2 9 > 338; elected King of Poland, 
164, 165; crowned, 173-78; letter 
of Augustus to, 199; personal ap¬ 
pearance, 209,210; letter of Charles 
to, 262, 263; offers to abdicate, 

307. 

Leipzig, 152, 192, 193, 194, 204, 207, 
208, 212, 213, 214, 218. 

Lejonhufvud, 258. 

Lemberg, 163, 168, 169, 171, 173. 

Leopold I, 38, 70, 115. 

Lepski, Count, 135, 145. 

Levesi, 146, 149. 

Lewenhaupt, Axel, 48. 

Lewenhaupt, Count Charles, 123, 
225, 238, 246, 253, 258, 259, 
263. 

Lidbom, Daniel, 187. 

Lieven, General, 135, 154, 155, 326. 

Lilje, Axel, 44. 

Lindskiold, Count, 25. 

Lisna, 238. 

Lithuania, 107, 114, 119, 120, 187. 

Livonia, 4, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 101, 
107, 274. 

London, 284. 

Louis XIV, 38, 80, 99, 105, 210, 221, 
261, 287. 

Lubecker, General, 225, 238. 

Lublin, 149, 171. 

Lubomirski, General, 137. 

Lubomirski, Prince, 231. 

Lubomirski, Princess, 171. 

Lund, 86, 346, 347. 

Luther, 71, 205. 

Liitzen, 4, 194. 

Maas, 161. 

Mahomet, 182, 292, 293. 

Maidel, 86. 

Maigret, French engineer, 351. 

Majerfeldt, Major-General, 255. 


367 



INDEX 


Malaren, 59, 63. 

Malplaquet, 274. 

Mardefeldt, General, 196. 

Marienburg, 161, 289. 

Marlborough, John, Duke of, 114, 
115, 161, 208, 210, 261, 274. 

Maximilian Emanuel, Prince of 
Wurttemberg, 151, 153, 176, 257, 
298. 

Mazeppa, early career, 226-28; char¬ 
acteristics, 230; deposed by Peter, 
231; joins Charles, 238-41; at the 
battle of Poltava, 257, 258; death, 
273 . 

Mecca, 277. 

Mecklenburg, 5. 

Mecklenburg, Duke of, 143, 176. 

Mecklenburg-Gabow, Duchess of, 6. 

Mehemet Ali, 278, 280, 281, 294, 
295 - 

Mehemet Baltadschi, 281. 

Menzicoff, Prince, 231, 253, 262, 
282, 290. 

Meyerfeldt, General, 273. 

Mithridates, 275. 

Mittau, 120. 

Mitylene, 295. 

Mohammed IV, 229. 

Mohilow, 236. 

Moliere, 66. 

Monasterole, Count de, 211. 

Moritz, widow, 289. 

Morner, 120, 137. 

Moskowa (Moscow), 20, 70, 225, 
230, 237, 260; boorish ministers 
from, 7; ignorance of the people, 
96. 

Motraye, de la, 59, 318. 

Miillern, von, 274. 

Mustapha, 266. 

Narova, 91, 92. 

Narva, 101,107,108,109,160; battle 
of, 83-94. 

Nazareth, 297. 

Nepos, Cornelius, 23. 

Netherlands, 79, 114. 

Neugeweber, 266, 273, 276. 


Neva, 230. 

Nicholas, St., 96. 

Nicholas, St., Church of, at Cracow, 
146. 

Niemen, 184. 

Norcopensis, Andreas, 21, 23. 

Nordberg, Joran, 1, 23, 24, 166. 

Nordenhjelm, 23, 25. 

Normalms Square, 44. 

Nuniers, 131. 

Oder, 191. 

Ofen, 129. 

Oginsky, the, 107, 120. 

Olivia, Peace of, 70, 71. 

Opalinsky, 164, 165. 

Orange, House of, 7. 

Orange, William of, 114. 

Oresund, 12, 78. 

Otjakov, Governor of, 265. 

Ottokefa, 290. 

Oxenstjerna, Councillor, 28, 30, 36, 
44. 

Oxenstjerna, Bengt, 5, 42, 47, 96, 

132. 

Palestine, 296. 

Palus Maeotis, 267. 

Paris, 43, 65, 104, 105, 243. 

Patkul, General, 108. 

Patkul, Johan R., 58, 71, 72, 73, 
107, 160, 198, 202, 203, 204. 

Perevolotjna, 256. 

Pernau, 82, 83, 93, 274. 

Peter, 40, 74, 220, 233, 239, 276, 306, 
338; plots with Augustus against 
Sweden, 70, 73, 107, 108, 160, 161, 
178; flees from Narva, 89, 90; his 
tactics in Poland, 223, 224; makes 
Mazeppa hetman of the Kos- 
sacks, 228, 230; his treatment of 
wounded soldiers, 236; at Poltava, 
247, 249, 253, 254, 255; banquets 
captive Swedish officers, 256, 257; 
captures Swedish army, 259, 260; 
gains Swedish provinces, 273, 
274; demands made by the Porte, 
282, 283; trapped by the river 




INDEX 


Pruth, 288, 289; espouses Cather¬ 
ine Alexiewna, 290; her influence 
over him, 291, 292; peace with the 
Turks, 292, 294, 306, 307; confers 
with Goertz, 349. 

Peter III, 74 n. 

Pfingsten, Councillor von, 192. 

Philip of Anjou, 8. 

Piper, Count Carl, 3, 81, 100, 119, 
131, J 35» 222; chief counsellor to 
Charles, 50, 137, 139, 150; treats 
with the Duke of Marlborough, 
210 and «.; last words to Charles, 
253; taken prisoner at Poltava, 
255, 256, 261. 

Piper, Lady, 170, 210. 

Pirna, 192. 

Plozko, 153. 

Poland, 70, 71, 144, 152, 160, 213, 
273; unfortunate condition of, 
112, 113, 118, 119; invaded by 
Charles, 120, 122, 131, 223; nego¬ 
tiations for the throne, 132, 133; 
battle of Kliszow, 137-43; throne 
declared vacant, 164; Lemberg 
and Warsaw taken, 168, 169; 
crowning of Stanislaus, 173-78; 
Augustus deposed, 196-99. 

Poltava, an important city, 239; be¬ 
sieged by Charles, 246-48; battle 
of, 249-59, 267, 272, 283. 

Polus, Thomas, 25. 

Pomerania, 5, 7, 71, 273, 298. 

Poniatowski, General, 265, 275, 
277, 278, 279, 280, 292, 328. 

Posen, 164. 

Posse, General, 86, 135. 

Potocki, Count, 175, 288, 292. 

Potocki, House of, 119 n. 

Potsdam, 273. 

Potzki, General, 127. 

Praga, 136. 

Prussia, 107, 114, 115, 150, 152, 273, 
298, 327. 

Pruth, river, 288, 291, 292, 306. 

Pultusk, 149, 150, 259. 

Punitz, 225. 

Pyhajoggi, 85. 


Quedlinburg, 123. 

Rabe, Catherine, 161. 

Rabe, Jens, 289. 

Racine, 275. 

Radziejowski, Hieronymus, 133,174. 
Radziwill, House of, 119 n. 
Ramillies, 191, 208. 

Ravitz, 170, 171, 225. 

Rawa, 70. 

Rebbing, 86. 

Regensburg, 5. 

Rehnskold, Count, 77, 81, 86, 125, 
276; wins victory at Fraustadt, 
178-80; presides at court martial 
of Patkul, 203; in command at 
Poltava, 251, 252; a prisoner, 255, 
256. 

Reval, 83, 274. 

Rhine, the, 23, 114. 

Rhone, the, 243. 

Rhyzelius, Professor, 347. 

Ricoux, Sieur de, 211. 

Riddarholm Island, 51. 
Riddarholm’s Church, 4. 

Riga, 74, 83, 107, 108, 289. 
Robinson, Rev. John, 200, 208, 209. 
Robinson, Mrs., 210. 

Rochelle, 9. 

Rokaczy, 215. 

Rome, 173, 174, 221, 231. 

Romny, 243. 

Rooke, Admiral, 78. 

Roos, General, 252, 253, 256, 317. 
Rothenberg, 58. 

Riigen, 5. 

Russia, 38, 58, 71, 112,168, 225, 286, 
291, 298. 

Ryswick, Peace of, 38. 

Samak, 171. 

Samogotia, 114. 

Sapieha, the, 107, 119, 120, 150. 
Saxe-Gotha, Duke of, 211. 

Saxe, Marechal de, 122. 

Saxony, 112, 131, 173, 214, 298; 
the only stronghold of German 
Protestantism, 7; invades Livonia, 

369 



INDEX 


74; invaded by Charles, 182, 191, 
192; Charles withdraws his army, 
218, 219, 223, 246. 

Saxony, Prince of, 131. 

Say ward, 59. 

Scaligeri, 16. 

Scandinavia, 97. 

Scania, 4, 280. 

Scheremetoff, General, 85, 224, 289. 
Schleppenbach, General, 252, 256. 
Schleswig-Holstein, 56, 58. 
Schraggenstiena, Dr. Samuel von, 
312. 

Schulenburg, 137. 

Scipio Africanus, 76. 

Sendomir, 144, 149, 171. 

Severia, 238, 243. 

Siberia, 187, 260, 290. 

Sigismund, King Augustus, 118. 
Silesia, 141, 171, 218, 219, 223. 
Siniawski, General de, 309. 

Sirko, Ivan, 229. 

Sjoblad, 86. 

Skagerak, 78. 

Slupza, 225. 

Smaland, 187. 

Smolensk, 225, 236, 237, 260. 
Sobieski, 150, 164. 

Sobieski, Alexander, 164, 178. 
Sobieski, house of, 197, 202. 
Sobieski, Jacques, 133, 134. 
Sobieski, Jean, 133, 164, 178. 
Soderstrom, bridge of, 59. 

Somers, Sir George, 59, 60. 
Sonnenstein, 202. 

Spain, 6, 38. 

Sparre, Axel, 66, 252, 253, 258, 275, 
320, 321-25, 329. 

Sperling, Count, 159. 

St. Andrew, Order of, 228, 231. 

St. Michael, 239. 

St. Petersburg, 225, 238, 282. 

Stade, 307. 

Stakelberg, General, 256. 

Stamboul, 283. 

Starodub, 243, 246. 

States-General, 150, 274, 278, 298. 
Stegeborg, Augustus John, 104. 


Steinau, General, 108, ill, 137. 

Stenbock, Count Johan, 63, 214. 

Stenbock, General Magnus, 86, 89, 
154; a complete soldier, 95; ar¬ 
ranges celebration of St. Charles’s 
Day, 102; at the capture of Cra¬ 
cow, 145, 146; nickname of, 281; 
rebuked by Charles, 307; death, 
308. 

Stepney, George, 209. 

Stettin, 5, 71, 298, 327. 

Stockholm, 9, 13, 43, 47; burning of 
the palace, 27, 33-36, 297; the 
pest in, 284-86. 

Strahlenheim, Baron, 215. 

Stralsund, 307, 327, 335, 336.. 

Stuart, Baron Charles, 25, 77, 138. 

Subomirski, General, 164. 

Suleiman, Grand Vizier, 309, 320, 

321, 323- 

Sweden, 25, 58, 68, 131, 132, 134, 
167, 192, 287, 295, 298; her his¬ 
tory that of her kings, 3-6; influ¬ 
ence of Charles XI, 8-12, 37; ac¬ 
cession of Charles XII, 39, 44- 
49; a year of many alliances, 42; 
magnificence of its court, 65, 66; 
plotted against by Saxony and 
Poland, 70-74; her soldiers, 76; 
triumphs of, 112, 113; siege of 
Thorn, 154-59; reverses in the 
northern provinces, 160, 161; cap¬ 
ture of Lemberg, 168; invasion of 
Saxony, 182-220; conflict with 
Muscovite Empire, 223-42; dis¬ 
aster at Poltava, 243-72; misery 
and starvation, 273, 274, 342; 
victory at Helsingborg, 280, 281; 
the pest, 284-86; appeals to 
Charles to return, 325, 326; parti¬ 
tion threatened, 337, 338. 

Swedenborg, Emanuel, 347. 

Switzerland, 73, 202. 

Tajo, 243. 

Tanais, 267. 

Tartars, Khan of, 278, 280, 283, 288, 
292, 306, 309, 313, 323. 


370 



INDEX 


Tartary, 161, 258. 

Temple, Sir William, 114. 

Tessin, 44, 65, 66, 96, 297. 

Thorn, 149, 154, 160. 

Tolstoy, Peter, 278, 282. 

Tonningen, 308. 

Tordenksjold, Captain, 345. 

Tornflycht, Lady Inga, 170. 

Torstenson, 256. 

Torstenson, Lennart, 44. 

Towianski, Mme., 165. 

Traventhal, 82. 

Trent, Council of, 232. 

Troy, 297. 

Tubingen, University of, 152. 

Turkey, 282. 

Ukraine, the, 225, 288; a fat and 
fertile province, 230; Charles 
marches into, 238, 243. 

Ulrica Eleanora, Queen, 12, 13, 20, 
130. 

Ulrica Eleanora, Princess, 14, 66, 
246, 287, 325, 332; letters of 
Charles to, 103, 167, 171, 269; 
marriage, 299-301, 341; visited 
by Charles at Vadstena, 345; 
solicitous for Charles’s health, 
34 7 , 348 . 

Ulriksdal, 23. 

Upsala, 9, 21. 

Usedom, 5. 

Valide, Sultana, 277. 

Vasa, 3, 118. 

Vela, 165. 

Vendbme, 161. 


Venice, 243, 278. 

Veprick, 243, 246. 

Verden, 298. 

Versailles, 65, 106. 

Viborg, 274. 

Vienna, 115, 208, 215, 217, 261. 
Villars, 161. 

Villeroi, 161. 

Vitzthum, Count, 164. 

Volhynia, 188. 

Vorskla, river, 247, 249, 251, 256. 

Wachtmeister, Admiral, 77, 79. 
Wachtmeister, General, 86, 185. 
Wallachia, 288. 

Warsaw, 136, 142, 163, 165, 169, 
170, 171, 175. 

Weingraf, 171. 

Welling, General Otto, 74, 82, 86, 
107, 209. 

Werden, 5, 338. 

Wesenberg, 84. 

Westphalia, peace of, 4, 5, 216. 
William III, 6, 136. 

Wismar, 5, 69. 

Wisniowiecki, 119. 

Wolfenbiittel, 66. 

Wollin, 5. 

Wrangel, Greta, 214. 

Wrangel, Lieutenant, 64. 

Wrangels, palace of the, 44. 
Wratislaw, 217. 

Wiirgen, 120, 131. 

Wiirtemberg, 56, 151, 298. 

Wiirzen, 192. 

Zobor, Count, 215. 



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